Author: M. V. Kamath
Publication: Free Press Journal
Date: December 12, 2004
Book review of "Insight into Minoritism",
By Muzaffer Hussain (India First Foundation)
In almost all countries in the world,
a certain segment -ethnic, religious linguistic or ideological would be
in the majority and some others would be in a minority. That is inevitable.
A multi-cultural national like the United States has its majority and minorities
as well, but one seldom talks about them. The biggest minority would be
the Blacks, but whoever would think of providing reservation for them in
the Senate or Congress or in government service?
Indeed in older textbooks on political
science there would hardly be any reference to majoritarianism and minoritarianism.
These are recently-coined words. But India is different. Here we constantly
talk of minorities as if they are a plague and we even have a Minority
Commission! It is a carry over from British colonialism. Nobody in India
talked of a majority or a minority in the days of Tipu Sultan or during
hayed of Mogul rule. Hindus were even then in a majority but they were
often treated as if they were non-existent. Hindus were made aware of their
majority status during the time of the British, as were Muslims of their
minority place in society.
That may have been a display - and
a distorted one at that - of British sense of Justice, but the consequences
were severe, resulting, for one thing, in partition of the country. Reference
has been made to this in Muzaffer Hussain's well-argued book Insight into
Minoritism, which goes into the subject in different contexts and in some
detail. Minorities have been dealt with very poorly in Pakistan and Bangladesh,
India's immediate neighbours. Hussain draws pointed attention to that.
Says Hussain: "There is a sizeable
population of Hindus in the Gulf countries but those countries are not
ready to give any facility to them in the name of minority or Human Rights.
The Hindus are not allowed there to cremate their kith and kin as per their
belief. They can't construct places for worship nor can they celebrate
their festivals at public places. During the Ramzan, non-Muslims can't
eat anything at daytime in public places. The Muslims expect to get everything
as minorities in the countries of Hindus, Buddhists and Christians but
in Islamic countries the minorities don't have such privilege.."
We have to blame history for that.
In India, minorities like Jews, Parsis and Christians have full freedom.
No Christian missionary dare try in an Islamic country, but in India every
citizen, especially if he is a tribal or one from the lower caste, is fair
game to Christian missionaries. In India propagation of religion is not
a crime. The freedom given is often interpreted to mean that one can resort
to conversion, which is frequently resorted to in tribal areas. It started
under the British when missionaries flooded the northeast and converted
large number of tribals to Christianity. Unconsciously this has caused
problems for free India.
Hussain damns minoritism as a "menace"
which it has indeed become. Hussain maintains that Christians and Muslims
in India can't be dubbed as minorities because they are very much Indian.
As he puts it: When all are born and brought up in the Indian context,
the question of 'alien' and 'indigenous' people don't arise". Hussain's
argument is that all over the world, a minority status is granted only
to those classes, which have migrated from abroad. So he says: "Hence it
is not proper to designate Muslims and Christians (of India) as aliens
since they, too are very much Indian".
All are one in this country where
there is one citizenship for all and everyone is a part of this nation.
The word 'minority' Hussain asserts, weakens the unity of the country and
draws a dividing line between individuals". How right he is. Hussain is
critical of Muslims I India who, he says, haven't accepted democracy. Inevitably
the Islamic world has been gripped by fanaticism and narrow thinking. The
point indeed was well made by Justice Chandrashekhar Dharmadhikari in his
preface. Writes Mr Dharmadhikari: "India as a nation has suffered continuous
tussles between the religious and orthodox religious fanaticism even after
the creation of Pakistan. How many Muslim mohallas or Madarassas hoist
the national flag and sing the national anthem collectively on the occasion
of Independence Day!"
How many indeed. The former Justice
adds: "To accept special rights for any community along with the provisions
of equal human rights are mutually contradictory principles. This creates
a controversy and the majority class begins to feel unprotected and adopts
a defensive mechanism". Hussain in his treatise goes into this subject
in a special and separate chapter entitled "How to tackle minoritism",
He notes that there are three distinct approaches in handling minoritism".
In the Arab world minorities like Christians and Hindus have no political
or religious rights. The second category belongs to western countries where
religion is recognized but the country comes first. Religion has no role
in framing laws and rule. National interest alone is taken into account.
In the US, 18 per cent of the people are blacks but they are not given
any minority status. Britain and France solved the problem by enforcing
a uniform civil code. What should India do in the circumstances?
Hussain has his answer ready. He
says: A uniform civil code is the only answer." He points out that the
Fundamental Rights as enumerated in the Constitution ensure religious freedom
for all. As Hussain sees it, minorities will continue to exist in one from
or another anywhere in the world. That is only but natural. The term 'Minority'
Hussain concedes, is not in itself bad, but problems arise when it is used
by vested interests, As he sees it, minoritism is a 'deception' practiced
on human civilization of which one should be aware of. And majority communalism
is a myth.
In a democracy, Hussain insists,
it is essential to respect the opinion of the majority in day-today life.
There haven't been many treatises on this subject and Muzaffer Hussain's
attempt, almost the first of its kind, is highly praiseworthy. He has no
hesitation in asking inconvenient questions. For example he asks: "How
can Muslims who form between 15 to 20 per cent of India's population consider
themselves a minority?" Not many have dared to raise this question. Hussain
has. All praise to him. This is a book that our policy-makers and politicians
would do well to read. It may not necessarily have all the right answers,
but it certainly raises all the right questions. And isn't that what a
good study should be all about?
