“The Muslims are the flesh of our flesh and blood of our blood”
—Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya
The signature tune of ‘minority insecurity’ has become a popular parlance in media with the arrival of nationalist government. Every criminal activity is painted with communal colour by so called liberal intellectuals and media. Though their claims eventually get bursted as happened in the rape case of a nun at Ranaghat town in West Bengal, it vitiates the harmony and unity of India. The conservative institutions like All India Muslim Personal Law Board saying that both Muslims and Christians are feeling insecure under the Modi led government further strengthens this insecurity syndrome.
The board has also proposed that their ‘Defend Constitutional Rights Committee’ will run a campaign to build a sense of confidence among minorities. The real issues behind this perceived and propagated insecurity and the method with which one can build confidence among so called minorities need to be assessed here.
First of all, the majority-minority is a colonial construct in Indian context. British conspiracy to harp on Hindu-Muslim division and false assurance of leaving India only after the unity of these two communities was taken at a face value by the then leadership and large section of intellectuals. In reality, British ensured that all people in India, irrespective of their ways of worships do not remain connected to their cultural roots. Unfortunately, in the post-independence period, the dominant
political class nurtured the same rhetoric to sustain their rule.
Secondly, if at all there is any insecurity for a section of people so called minorities by the labelled majoritarian government, then it should have been Parsis and Jews who are miniscule minorities in India. They never claim any insecurity and while practicing their religion, they are prospering in other aspects of life. On the contrary, communities harping on minoritism are confined to their ghettos created by liberal-secularists.
Thirdly, India’s non-religious character is rooted in its civilisational ethos and not merely in some provisions of the present day Constitution. All ways of worships have evolved, prospered and propagated here with the spirit of acceptance. The problem arose when the contractors of minority rights like personal law boards and so called liberal intellectuals tried to justify attacks on this very spirit of acceptance by Semitic religions. This has created the vote-bank politics which is divisive by nature.
The best way to get out of the clutches of perceived or artificial insecurity is to call spade a spade and get ourselves out of this majority-minority construct. It should be established that a gang rape of a Sadhvi is equally condemnable to a rape of nun in the state of West Bengal, not because of their religious affiliations but on the basis of dignity of women. We have to imbibe in our consciousness that the inherent unity of all communities in India is more profound than the diversities. Our history should nurture pride in our common heritage of this land, and not of Arab or European one. Changing ways of worships does not change anyone’s ancestry or national idols is a universal practice that needs to be ascertained. The clutches of liberal conservatism which thrives on caste, regional and communal divisions, and denies space for any counter argument in favour of the indigenous is the root cause of insecurity. Identifying with the roots can free everybody from the clutches of perpetual distrust and make everybody live and prosper together.
