Author: Dr D.P. Sharma
Publication: Organiser
Date: October 10, 2004
URL: http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=45&page=44
Introduction: Britain, France and
Spain are facing separation threats from minority groups. Minorities are
no more silent groups; they have gone to the extent of adopting terrorist
means to achieve their separatist aim.
The pattern of population growth
in India is glaringly uneven which needs a cool, dispassio-nate, and deeper
analysis with special reference to its political implications.
Population is not just a number;
it has become an important player in democratic politics. The community
with the largest number becomes a non-entity. This creates different psychologies
among the majority and minority communities. The minority community everywhere
in the world is living with the same psychological impulse to increase
their numerical strength in order to wrest a greater share in power. Religious
faith is another factor that works to rationalise and strengthen this impulse.
Therefore, the asymmetric population growth in a pluralistic society like
India has significant political dimensions, which should not be brushed
aside so thoughtlessly as is done here.
Quebec is a very interesting example
to illustrate this point. Quebec is a province of Canada which has a mixed
population of the English and the French immigrants. The English settlers
are largely Protestants who practise family planning but the French settlers
are Catholics who abhor family planning. In course of time, the population
of the French settlers became large enough to demand separate statehood
for Quebec. In a referendum conducted last on this issue, the integrity
of Canada remained intact with a small margin, but the danger still looms
large.
Many European nations including
Britain, France and Spain are facing separation threats from minority groups.
Minorities are no more silent groups; they have gone to the extent of adopting
terrorist means to achieve their separatist aim. Many nations on the globe
are badly disturbed by these minority groups. So, a disproportionate population
growth of any minority community above the national average is not in the
interest of any nation, particularly when the minority community has a
political ideology which is antithetical to democratic values, as we find
with the Muslim fundamentalist groups, no matter where they are.
Muslims in India are the largest
minority group with a population larger than the Muslim population in Pakistan
or Bangladesh. They are very united and reactive. They are an influential
pressure group and they know the art of extracting the maximum benefits
from the government. The growth rate of Muslims exceeds by 10 per cent
over the growth rate of Hindus and it was even more during the previous
decades.
According to the Census report published
on September 7, 2004, the figures show a growth rate of the Hindus´
decline by 4.8 per cent in the period 1981-91 to 1991-2001 from 25.1 per
cent to 20.3 per cent, while the Muslim population grew about 1.5 per cent
from 34.5 to 36 per cent. The difference comes to 16 per cent. According
to the adjusted Census report published on September 10, 2004 the growth
rate of the Muslims declined to 29.3 per cent from 32.9 per cent and growth
rate of the Hindus declined from 22.8 per cent to 19.8 per cent. Even according
to the adjusted Census report, the difference in the growth rates comes
to 10 per cent which cannot be said to be marginal.
A particular breed of political
leaders, writers and journalists came out to justify the excessive growth
rate among the Muslim community on the grounds of poverty and illiteracy,
but this is applicable to the poorer sections of the Hindu community too;
the Muslim community has a certain political aim supported by a religious
faith that is prompting them to produce more children, even at the cost
of their own suffering.
Hamid Dalwai, an angry, young crusader
against communalism, has candidly written on this issue. He writes:
"All Muslim leaders unanimously
complain that injustice is done to Muslims in India. However, they have
a strange definition of injustice. They suggest, indirectly no doubt, that
the very fact that India has a Hindu majority is in itself a great injustice
to Muslims. How else can one understand the programme of the Mashawarat
which demands sovereign rights for the Muslim community? In their own way,
Muslim leaders are continuously trying to remove this injustice. One of
the methods of ensuring justice is to claim that Pakistani infiltrators
in Assam are not Pakistani at all. A second method is to demand the granting
of Indian citizenship to those Pakistanis who are illegal residents of
Bihar, West Bengal and some other states of India. A third method is to
oppose family planning. A professor from Aligarh University was quite frank
about this. He said: 'Hindus cannot keep us permanently in a minority.
Remember the history of Canada? How did the question of Quebec arise? Those
citizens of Quebec who are of English origin are Protestants and they practise
family planning. But those who are of French origin are Catholics who never
planned their families nor are doing so even today. As a result, the number
of French-speaking Catholics in Quebec has increased in relation to the
number of English-speaking Protestants. Now the French-speaking Catholics
have started protecting their own rights and interests. We shall follow
the same example. If not today, fifty years hence; if not fifty, a hundred
years hence. This country will eventually be swept by an Islamic tide.'
The professor was quite forthright in expressing his views. There are other
leaders of Indian Muslims who say the same thing although they couch it
in clever phrases. They say, 'Our religion does not permit family planning.
Grant us the freedom to practise our religion'."
The Urdu newspaper Radiance, commenting
on the report of the last Census in India, said, "In the last ten years
the Muslim population in India has increased by 4 per cent more than the
Hindus. Therefore, Muslims need not despair about their future," (Muslim
Politics in India, p. 63/6.)
He further says that according to
the Muslims, the only solution to their problems "is the establishment
of an Islamic State in India. The Jammat-e-Islami has already a programme
to achieve this objective. And if they fail to achieve it, then they would
seek to establish within the sovereign State of India a sovereign Islamic
society. This idea of a State within a State and society within society,
appeals to them.the Majalis-e-Mashawarat has demanded that the Indian Parliament
should have no power to legislate in matters concerning Indian Muslims.
Salahuddin Owesi publicly suggested, 'There should be a separate Muslim
State within each state of India'," (ibid, p.64).
In some newspapers we read articles
in which the authors have advised that 80 crore Hindus need not fear from
13 crore Muslims. This is a very facile consolation. Today, there are 13
per cent Muslims only, but they are powerful enough to make most of the
political leaders bow before them and when their population will increase
to 30 per cent, they will easily capture power and many Man Singhs and
Jai Singhs will help them establish an Islamic State in India. On many
occasions, the timidity of the Hindus terrified Mahatma Gandhi and he woefully
remarked that "every Hindu is a coward and every Muslim is a bully."
To those Hindus who hold such passive
views, Hamid Dalwai wants to say: "Some Muslims went to even a further
extent.(and) asked me, 'We were the rulers of the country. Do you want
us now to become slaves?.Fight the Hindus. We are still capable of fighting
them.Give us your support. If all Muslims unite we can easily defeat the
Hindus. With their unflinching faith Muslims can defeat even the most formidable
enemy. This is the lesson of Islam. Please remember the battle of Babr',"
(Ibid. 64).
The facts stated above by Hamid
Dalwai are well-testified facts and well known to many. Gandhi, Patel and
Nehru also knew of these facts but the present generation of the Congress
is not ready to accept these plain facts. There was nothing wrong when
Venkaiah Naidu, the BJP president, said that "the Census data indicate
a threat to the unity and integrity of India in the long run." If the Congress
sees any 'perversion' in his statement, it is its own perversion.
(The writer is Chairman, Mahatma
Gandhi Sarvodaya Mission, B1/79, Phase-II, Ashok Vihar, Delhi-110 052.)
