MG Vaidya
Every nation-state must be having a certain section of its population, which can be termed as a minority. In USA, the Blacks are a minority so also the Catholics and the Jews too. In UK, the Catholics are in a minority and in Ireland the Protestants must be having the same tag. But nowhere, I surmise, it is a syndrome, I mean a pathological condition, as we witness in our country. I think that UK must not be indulging in state-funding of its Catholic minority, for piligrimage to Vatican; nor does USA be thinking of making separate laws for the Black minority. This speciality of pampering the minorities must be only our country’s unique peculiarity.
Our Constitution has accepted two bases for declairing a minority. One is language and the other is religion. But linguistic minorities generally don’t create any problem. If at all there is any such problem, it is limited to a small part of that state. The problem is about the religious minorities and among them particularly of the Muslim minority. Did any government, appoint a committee to assess the economic conditions of Christians or Parsees? But for the Muslims, there is a Sachar Committee. From the Muslims, alone, there is a demand for proportional representation, even for special courts for them. The Parsees are a minuscule minority, which should really be most apprehensive of discriminatory injustice by the majority and should demand special laws for their survival. But there is no special demand from the Parsees. They don’t, even for a moment, feel that their religion or their existence as a community is threatend by the majority.
That is the prerogative of the Muslims alone. They alone get the Government subsidy for their Haj pilgrimage. It is bacause of the Muslims alone, that their is no common civil law, though there is specific directive in Article 44 of our Constitution. The Article says “The State shall endeavour to secure for the citizens a Uniform Civil Code, throughout the territory of India.” Mark, the word is ‘shall’, not may. The word ‘shall’ has a definitive meaning which is substantiated by the Article 37 which lays down. “The provisions contained in this part shall not be enforcable by any court, but the principles therein laid down are nevertheless fundamental in the governance of the country and it shall be the duty of the State to apply these principles in making laws.”
All Governments from 1947 onwards, have blatantly disregarded this provision. Not a single step is taken to claim that the state has endeavoured in that direction. Let alone the full civil code, but there is not even a common law for marriage and divorce. If polygamy is bad, it must be so for all citizens. How can it be good for one section and flawed for others? Why is it so? Are Christians against such a law? No. Only Muslims and not all Muslims but the majority of them are against this law. I wonder whether the state is assuming that the psyche of the majority of Muslims is still the same as it was in 1946. In 1946, 85 per cent of Muslim voters, living in that part of our country which is now known as Bharat, had voted for creation of Pakistan, which was the election slogan of the Muslim League. But even then 15 per cent of Muslims had voted for the Congress party whose slogan was ‘United India’. Has that strength depleted or increased in these 66 years of self-rule?
We are so obsessed or afflicted with this Majority-Minority disease, that we do not regard our population as one people. In this connection I want to draw the readers’ attention to a speech of Vladimir Putin, the Russian President, that he made in the Duma (Russian Parliament) on February 4th 2013. He said, “In Russia live Russians. Any minority, from anywhere, if it wants to live in Russia, to work and eat in Russia, should speak Russian, and should respect the Russian laws. If they prefer Shari ‘a Law, then we advise them to go to those places where that’s the state law. Russia does not need minorities. Minorities need Russia, and we will not grant them special privileges, or try to change our laws to fit their desires, no matter how loud they yell ‘discrimination”. The politicians in the Duma gave Putin a standing ovation for five minutes!
I don’t know when our Constitution will be amended to state that “India that is Bharat is one country, with one people, one culture, i. e. one value-system and therefore one Nation.”
If we are able to do this then there will be no need to have separate Articles like 29 and 30. Articles 14, 15 and 16 give abundant guarantee and freedom to minorities to establish their educational institutions. But if any minority insists on a specific constitutional guarantee, let that right conferred by Article 30 be restricted to those institutions that are meant for the students belonging to their denomination only. At present the Article 30 is abused. Educational institutions founded by Christian Societies admit students belonging to other faiths and religions, whose number is more than 90 per cent and yet, escape the common laws governing all educational institutions. This abuse must stop. All such obnoxious provisions that impede the unity of the people must go.
