Do not call us “ Minorities''
C J Shahjahan
Forty years
back, the word ‘ Dalit “ was not in popular usage . It was Mahatma Gandhi who
named the suppressed society as harijans ( Children of God ) and founded
Harijan Sevak Sangh in 1932. He even started a weekly in the name of Harijan
. While conversing the merits of
reservation policy with my dalit BHEL
colleague , I casually mentioned the word “ harijan “ and immediately my friend retorted back
furiously with a hurt feeling – If we are the children of Hari, who are the
other people ? Don’t call us harijans and isolate us from the society. It
is demeaning. My indomitable respect
for Mahatma did not allow me to appreciate his hurt feelings three decades ago.
But, today,
when every political leader and the mass media use the phrases - Minority
appeasement. Minority uplift, Minority vote bank, Minority reservations,
Minority quota - I feel the same anguish
and anger of my BHEL dalit friend.
Why are we
Muslims being branded as minorities ?
How am I
different from my friends Sivaramakrishnan and Rangaswamy ?
Am I not the same Indian who salutes the national
flag and stand in attention for the national anthem ?
Then why
this seal of segregation as a minority ?
When called
as minority one undergoes subtle psychological depression with a lurking fear
of being bullied by the majority. This fear and insecurity create an offensive
mechanism in an individual and some of the political groups try to mobilize
such vulnerable individuals for combat
and communal ism.
The United
Nations study group defines ‘ Minority ‘ as a culturally, ethnically, or
racially distinct group that coexists with but is subordinate to a more
dominate group. Because they are socially separated or segregated from the
dominant forces of a society , members of a minority group are usually cut off from a full involvement
in the workings of the society and from an equal share in the society’s
welfare.
There are three distinct forms of majority- minority existence in a society. In the most rarest form, a minority may disappear from a society via
assimilation , a process through which a minority group replaces its traditions
with those of dominant culture. The
other extreme form is the forceful
elimination of a minority by mob
violence , ethnic cleansing and genocide. These forms of oppression devastate
the economic, political and mental health of both the minority and majority
population. The intermediate form is the pluralistic society where the dominate
group accepts the co-existence of a minority and opt for amity and
tolerance for its own political, moral and economical gains.
Indian
Muslims all along experienced the benefits of this pluralistic patronage and it
is unfortunate that today certain divisive forces from both the groups try to
destroy this pluralism .
The original
objective of offering social justice to the Muslims after independence has in due course drawn a dividing line between Indian Muslims
and the rest of the religious groups. It
has done more harm to the Muslim psyche as well as the national integration . The psychological feeling of being a minority
instills insecurity and inferiority . The major Indian Muslim political parties
exploit this insecurity to widen their support base.
While the plethora
of minority groups and political parties cry for more percentage of
reservations for Muslims, the Hindutva parties highlight the fallacy of
minority appeasement at the cost of majority .
This process of pull and pressure has widened the chasm between Muslims
and Hindus during the past decade especially after the post babri masjid
demolition. The communal harmony and the
national integration are the twin casualties in this process.
The
constitution of India
does not define the term “Minorities “anywhere and it also does not guarantee
any special privileges to the minority groups. But as a welfare state , the governments both at the
center and at the state level , extend the welfare programmes to the minorities as and when it suits their
vote bank priorities.
The constitutionally
guaranteed reservations for the scheduled castes and tribes might have improved
marginally the economic indicators over the past 60 years but till date the
dalits and the most backward groups could not be integrated emotionally and
psychologically with the mainstream of our social strata. Our political leaders have destroyed the
fabric of Indian society by wooing only the votes and not the hearts of the
dalits.
The same
results can be inferred if the muslim groups succeed in getting even the 10
percent reservations in government jobs
and in educational institutions. The
reservations may throw up some more
lucrative jobs for the handful of muslim youth in defense, police , IAS
& IFS cadres but the society will
still live in isolation and backwardness . Muslim families will be denied
housing for rent in metros, their innocent youth will continue to languish in
jails with uncertain future and any
minor altercation will still provoke a full blown communal flame that would
consume thousands of young men, women and children on both the sides. Is this our goal of minority welfare ?
Justice
Rajindar Sachar committee report clearly
highlighted the cause of muslim backwardness in the social and educational
front and stated that muslims are the most backward community despite rich
cultural heritage.
While madarasa education may uplift the souls,
it is only the modern education that can uplift the society. Muslim leaders should realize that both the
madarasa and the modern educational
systems are not contradictory but complimentary. Science and its inventions when studied objectively
reemphasize the religion and the faith .
Muslim scholars and ulema should
now recognize the fact that modern education and undistorted Islamic values are
the only twin tools of Muslim emancipation in this country.
Islam, as a
religion, preaches egalitarianism with an equitable mix of capitalism and
socialism. It not only ordains zakath (
Poor Tax ) on every eligible muslim who
has to partake a portion of his wealth to the needy and the poor but also prohibits all kinds of interest
which destroy the poor families.
During
the inauguration of National Waqf Development Corporation ( NAWDCO ) in the
capital recently , Prime Minister informed the audience that the registered
waqf properties currently generate 163
crores of income annually and if properly monitored and developed the total
waqf assets alone can contribute Rs 12000 crores every year. Most of the waqf
properties are in prime urban locations and presently controlled by
unscrupulous and selfish muslim trustees.
If alone ,
the rich muslims pay proper zakath every year
and Muslims could harness the annual income of 12000
crores from waqf properties , the community need not beg for reservation and agitate to implement the recommendation of Ranganath Misra commission report.
. The
population of Indian Muslims exceeds 170 million, third largest Muslim majority
in the world, next only to Indonesia
and Pakistan.
The community of Indian Muslims is 10 times larger than Malaysia, 6 times larger than Saudi Arabia and twice that of Egypt. If one
has to go by sheer numbers, Indian Muslims are
in majority compared to their religious counterparts of other nations.
Why then a
community of 170 million is branded as a minority ?
I wish to
live in an India
where I feel as an Indian on par with my neighbours .
Please, do
not call us minorities anymore.
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