Secular fa
Ehsanul Haque | Sunday, 13 July 2008
It goes to the credit of Mahtma Gandhi, and those who shared his philosophy that the new Indian state did not get completely and early obsessed with chauvinistic religious impulses. Gandhi gave his life to warn about the monster that is communalism. The first leaders of the Indian republic -- Nehru, being the most prominent among them, were visionary to the extent that they realised the great importance of embracing democracy and secularism as the guiding principles for their country. Secularism as a principle was writ large in the Indian Constitution at the outset, notwithstanding that the Indian subcontinent was divided on communal lines between Hindu India and Muslim Pakistan.
The incorporation of the principle of secularism as the highest law in India was a very meritorious move in the sense that the division of the subcontinent allowed the religious minorities to be formed in the two new states to either migrate or remain at their points of origin. This left India with a huge Muslim minority population. It was impractical in the social, economic and every other sense for such a large minority to migrate and they chose the option to remain in India and be Indian citizens. Not only the Muslim population, but India also became the home of a large tribal population and also of Sikhs, Christians and Buddhists. The presence of these big religious and ethnic minorities signalled the reality that the long-run security of the Indian state depended on not making it only a homeland of Hindus but for a plural society where the minorities would be free to exercise their fundamental human rights and be welcome to enjoy socio-economic opportunities at par with the Hindu population. But the promise of secularism has been fraying all the time and today the concept and its spirit are surely in a very tattered state.
India has a Muslim population of over 120 million. This number is close to the total population of Bangladesh which is the seventh most populous country in the world and goes to signify the size of the Muslim population in India and underlines why it has been always supremely important for the Indian leaders to integrate such a huge religious minority with mainstream Indian life. Such a large number of people left alienated or deprived of socio-economic opportunities could hardly make for a harmonious or integrated nation. But in reality, the Indian Muslims have been in a pitiable condition so far. They had all through been treated, on the whole, as no better than second class or worse still, as third class citizens. Exceptions are there, but the lot of the Muslims in India generally has not been any better than the untouchables or the lowest caste Hindus.
They are very seriously discriminated against in employment in the federal and state governments. The number of Muslims officers of even mid-level status in the vast Indian federal bureaucracy are a handful and their numbers are even fewer or non-existent at the upper levels. Muslims are hardly recruited for the police or the armed forces. Economically, Muslims are treated in a step-motherly fashion in the getting of bank loans and other supports to set up enterprises on their own. Politically, they are emasculated and have to be content clinging on to the major political parties strictly as underlings.
Clearly, the sort of existence that Muslims have at the bottom of the pile in Indian society is the antithesis of professed Indian democratic and secular values. India is regarded in the world outside as a democratic country. But the fundamental inequality and maltreatment received by such a large number of people in so-called democratic India, ironically, does not attract world attention. The USA, the UK and the other advanced industrial democracies of the world are prone to lavishing praises on India for its democratic way of life and considerably India's size, market attractions and geopolitical importance have much to do with such flattery of those countries. But they need to rise above such mundane considerations and increase pressure on India to do justice to its professed democratic values.
The writer is a freelance journalist and researcher
The incorporation of the principle of secularism as the highest law in India was a very meritorious move in the sense that the division of the subcontinent allowed the religious minorities to be formed in the two new states to either migrate or remain at their points of origin. This left India with a huge Muslim minority population. It was impractical in the social, economic and every other sense for such a large minority to migrate and they chose the option to remain in India and be Indian citizens. Not only the Muslim population, but India also became the home of a large tribal population and also of Sikhs, Christians and Buddhists. The presence of these big religious and ethnic minorities signalled the reality that the long-run security of the Indian state depended on not making it only a homeland of Hindus but for a plural society where the minorities would be free to exercise their fundamental human rights and be welcome to enjoy socio-economic opportunities at par with the Hindu population. But the promise of secularism has been fraying all the time and today the concept and its spirit are surely in a very tattered state.
India has a Muslim population of over 120 million. This number is close to the total population of Bangladesh which is the seventh most populous country in the world and goes to signify the size of the Muslim population in India and underlines why it has been always supremely important for the Indian leaders to integrate such a huge religious minority with mainstream Indian life. Such a large number of people left alienated or deprived of socio-economic opportunities could hardly make for a harmonious or integrated nation. But in reality, the Indian Muslims have been in a pitiable condition so far. They had all through been treated, on the whole, as no better than second class or worse still, as third class citizens. Exceptions are there, but the lot of the Muslims in India generally has not been any better than the untouchables or the lowest caste Hindus.
They are very seriously discriminated against in employment in the federal and state governments. The number of Muslims officers of even mid-level status in the vast Indian federal bureaucracy are a handful and their numbers are even fewer or non-existent at the upper levels. Muslims are hardly recruited for the police or the armed forces. Economically, Muslims are treated in a step-motherly fashion in the getting of bank loans and other supports to set up enterprises on their own. Politically, they are emasculated and have to be content clinging on to the major political parties strictly as underlings.
Clearly, the sort of existence that Muslims have at the bottom of the pile in Indian society is the antithesis of professed Indian democratic and secular values. India is regarded in the world outside as a democratic country. But the fundamental inequality and maltreatment received by such a large number of people in so-called democratic India, ironically, does not attract world attention. The USA, the UK and the other advanced industrial democracies of the world are prone to lavishing praises on India for its democratic way of life and considerably India's size, market attractions and geopolitical importance have much to do with such flattery of those countries. But they need to rise above such mundane considerations and increase pressure on India to do justice to its professed democratic values.
The writer is a freelance journalist and researcher