Minorityism dividing the nation
By Pramod Kumar
Minorityism is nothing but vote-bank politics and it will not benefit the minorities at all, rather it will further deteriorate their condition. It was the unanimous outcome of a day-long seminar on Minorities and Minority Rights. The seminar was organised by India First Foundation in association with the Chetanya Kasyap Foundation in New Delhi on March 19. Noted jurist Shri L.M. Singhvi, former Lok Sabha general secretary Shri Subhash C. Kashyap and Shri Arif Mohammad Khan were among the prominent speakers at the seminar.
Initiating the discussion on “Minorities and Minority Rights: The Supreme Court and the State”, noted columnist Shri S. Gurumurthy called for an extensive and intensive debate on the interest of minorities and the concept of secularism in India. He described the majority and minority phenomenon as “the fight between those who believe that god is one and those who believe that there is only one god.” He cited the recent resolution by Kerala Assembly seeking release of Madani, who has been charged with killing more than 59 innocent people and also plotting for murderous attack on former Deputy Prime Minister and Leader of Opposition, Shri L.K. Advani, as the extreme height of minority appeasement.
He said theoretically, secularism has nothing to do with the majority-minority issue and also with the special minority rights devised under the Constitution. “Secularism defines the character of the state as a religion-neutral institution. But, unfortunately, in the Indian debate on secularism, the issue of minority rights has been constitutionally confused with and politically linked to the secular character of the Indian state,” he said and added that a secular democratic state knows only one identity for its people that is all citizens with equal rights. Quoting the Encyclopaedia and the Supreme Court judgment, he further said there could be no comparison between Hinduism and any other religious faiths. There is no organised or evangelical Hinduism, consequently, there is nothing in Hinduism that makes it conflict with any other faith.
Shri Gurumurthy said the distorted relations between the majority and the minority in India call for an extensive debate on the issue. He stated that constitutionally provided special rights to the minorities had evolved out of the complex of pre-Partition history of intrigues and manipulations of the Muslim leadership and the British against the Congress movement, which was identical with the Hindus. “Politically, the special rights given to minorities and also the various bounties provided to them are justified on the touchstone of secularism, which according to the Supreme Court judgment seem to be unrelated to each other. This has actually turned the concept of secularism into a matter of minority appeasement in politics,” he said.
Shri L.M. Singhvi described Mahabharat as the greatest constitutional granth of Indian civilisation. Quoting Bhisma, he said no religion is superior to humanity. He described secularism in India as the earliest form of Indian traditions. He said the word dharma symbolised duty and not any religion. Negating the belief of some faiths that claim that only those who profess their way of worship will get salvation, he said, Indian ethics ensure salvation for everyone, and “India” must remain first for every Indian.
Shri Subhash C. Kashyap said the supreme power in a democracy lies with the public and not with the government. “But unfortunately people today do not want to exercise their power and continue to beg as they used to do during the British period,” he said. Coming down heavily on the political parties, he said their one-point agenda is to grab power by hook or by crook.
Lashing out at the media and a section of the society, Shri Arif Mohammad Khan said first they provide undue patronage to fundamentalists and then complain that it adversely affect the Ganga-Jamuni culture of the country. Quoting Quran and the Prophet he said separatism has no place in Islam and the Prophet had himself directed Muslims to be faithful to the country in which they live. He said the resolution seeking the release of Madani by Kerala Assembly has not been passed on the demand of common Muslim. He also termed the phenomenon of taking benefit of reservation based on religion as anti-Quran. He also said the decision of Gandhiji to support the Khilafat movement was wrong.
Speaking on the birth of minority rights in India, Shri K.N. Bhat, senior advocate of Supreme Court and a leading expert on the Constitution and constitutional laws, said the real concern of the Constituent Assembly was to avoid discrimination against minorities and not conferring any special rights on them.
Citing Article 25 of the Constitution, Dr Jitendra Bajaj, noted scholar, said the Sub-Clause (b) of the Clause 2 of this article takes away from the majority the freedom provided by Clause 1 to all. He said the clause allows unlimited interference by the State in the religious affairs of the majority in the name of social welfare and reform. Referring to the misuse of the Clause by several governments he cited the poor state of affairs in several Hindu temples that have been taken over by the government in different parts of the country. He said Hindus could not even perform proper pooja in those temples and money offered to the deities in those temples was being misused.
Shri T.H. Choudhary, who has been in forefront of exposing the ‘pseudo-secularism and the ‘communal’ face of their practitioners, said one-third of India has been lost; Hindus are expelled and ethnically cleansed from that lost land and in the remaining parts of the country they are under siege. Shri J.S. Rajput, former chairman of NCERT, said India is today in the grip of a group of people who wants to pollute the education. Well-known columnist, commentator and former MP, Shri Balbir K. Punj conducted the proceedings of the first session. Shri Dina Nath Mishra, founder president of India First Foundation and former MP, said the preparations for the seminar had been going on for the last three months. About 200 distinguished personalities of Delhi were present on the occasion.
The Sangh welcomes any campaign for national unity
Statement of RSS Sarsanghachalak Shri K.S. Sudarshan issued from Nagpur on March 13
The baseless speculations by a few newspapers involving my name regarding the visit of Shri Lal Krishna Advani to Nagpur on March 10-11, have deeply pained me. The Ahmedabad-based correspondent Ajya Umat, whose report was carried by The DNA of Mumbai and later it was taken up by the Dainik Bhaskar of Delhi and a few other newspapers, without contacting me, Shri Mohanji Bhagwat or Shri Advaniji and sitting in Ahmedabad released a fabricated report about this meeting in Nagpur. Refuting the whole news report I say that the conclusions mentioned in that report are totally untrue.
During his visit to Nagpur, Shri Advani came to Sangh Karyalaya, had meal with me and later had a discussion with Shri Mohanji for about 45 minutes. The second day he attended the Amrit Mahotsava ceremony of an old and dedicated worker Shri Diwakar Dhakras of Nagpur as chief guest, where I was also present as an audience. At the press conference held in the evening when he was asked as to what he discussed with Sarsanghachalak, he said, “I normally go to the Sangh Karyalaya every time I visit Nagpur. This time also I went there on March 10, had meal with Sudarshanji and had discussion as usual. Three days back also when he came to Delhi I had a discussion with him at my residence.” When asked whether it means that the relations with the Sangh have improved, he said, “I never had any strained relations with the Sangh.”
After this reality, if somebody drives any fabricated conclusion out of it, it only means that there are some vested interests behind releasing such news.
As far as the rath yatras by Shri Rajnath Singh and Shri Advaniji are concerned, they are with the objective of cautioning the countrymen about the dangers of Muslim appeasement to the unity and integrity of the country, and there is no question of Sangh opposing it. The Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha of the Sangh has also adopted a resolution expressing concern over this danger. The Sangh always supports any activity aimed at making the society aware of the dangers to the unity and integrity of the country.
Yatras not against minorities
-L.K. Advani
“We are not campaigning against minorities. This should be understood by all. Today, I feel a campaign against minorityism is necessary to caution the government that the vote-bank politics is not only dangerous for the country but also not in the interest of minorities itself,” said Shri L.K. Advani, Leader of Opposition while speaking at the seminar. Terming the minority appeasement as petty vote-bank politics, he said the appointment of Sachar Committee purportedly to count the number of Muslims in armed forces provocated him to take such a step in this regard. He said even Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was opposed to reservation for minorities after independence saying that it would lead to isolation. Shri Advani cited religious reservation for Muslims in AMU and Andhra Pradesh, amendment in Foreign Act to provide patronage to Bangladeshi infiltrators, appointment of Sachar Committee, resolution in Kerala assembly seeking release of Madani and the recent Banerjee Committee’s report as the strong incidents during the last two years of UPA rule that purely indicated the minority appeasement. “All these incidents prove how low-level politics can be resorted to appease minorities. This is not going to benefit the minorities at all,” he added. He said during the NDA government they took four steps against terrorism, which include mobilisation of world opinion against terrorism, pressing Pakistan to deny use of their soil for terrorists, busting the modules of ISI in the country and formulation of POTA.
Minorityism is nothing but vote-bank politics and it will not benefit the minorities at all, rather it will further deteriorate their condition. It was the unanimous outcome of a day-long seminar on Minorities and Minority Rights. The seminar was organised by India First Foundation in association with the Chetanya Kasyap Foundation in New Delhi on March 19. Noted jurist Shri L.M. Singhvi, former Lok Sabha general secretary Shri Subhash C. Kashyap and Shri Arif Mohammad Khan were among the prominent speakers at the seminar.
Initiating the discussion on “Minorities and Minority Rights: The Supreme Court and the State”, noted columnist Shri S. Gurumurthy called for an extensive and intensive debate on the interest of minorities and the concept of secularism in India. He described the majority and minority phenomenon as “the fight between those who believe that god is one and those who believe that there is only one god.” He cited the recent resolution by Kerala Assembly seeking release of Madani, who has been charged with killing more than 59 innocent people and also plotting for murderous attack on former Deputy Prime Minister and Leader of Opposition, Shri L.K. Advani, as the extreme height of minority appeasement.
He said theoretically, secularism has nothing to do with the majority-minority issue and also with the special minority rights devised under the Constitution. “Secularism defines the character of the state as a religion-neutral institution. But, unfortunately, in the Indian debate on secularism, the issue of minority rights has been constitutionally confused with and politically linked to the secular character of the Indian state,” he said and added that a secular democratic state knows only one identity for its people that is all citizens with equal rights. Quoting the Encyclopaedia and the Supreme Court judgment, he further said there could be no comparison between Hinduism and any other religious faiths. There is no organised or evangelical Hinduism, consequently, there is nothing in Hinduism that makes it conflict with any other faith.
Shri Gurumurthy said the distorted relations between the majority and the minority in India call for an extensive debate on the issue. He stated that constitutionally provided special rights to the minorities had evolved out of the complex of pre-Partition history of intrigues and manipulations of the Muslim leadership and the British against the Congress movement, which was identical with the Hindus. “Politically, the special rights given to minorities and also the various bounties provided to them are justified on the touchstone of secularism, which according to the Supreme Court judgment seem to be unrelated to each other. This has actually turned the concept of secularism into a matter of minority appeasement in politics,” he said.
Shri L.M. Singhvi described Mahabharat as the greatest constitutional granth of Indian civilisation. Quoting Bhisma, he said no religion is superior to humanity. He described secularism in India as the earliest form of Indian traditions. He said the word dharma symbolised duty and not any religion. Negating the belief of some faiths that claim that only those who profess their way of worship will get salvation, he said, Indian ethics ensure salvation for everyone, and “India” must remain first for every Indian.
Shri Subhash C. Kashyap said the supreme power in a democracy lies with the public and not with the government. “But unfortunately people today do not want to exercise their power and continue to beg as they used to do during the British period,” he said. Coming down heavily on the political parties, he said their one-point agenda is to grab power by hook or by crook.
Lashing out at the media and a section of the society, Shri Arif Mohammad Khan said first they provide undue patronage to fundamentalists and then complain that it adversely affect the Ganga-Jamuni culture of the country. Quoting Quran and the Prophet he said separatism has no place in Islam and the Prophet had himself directed Muslims to be faithful to the country in which they live. He said the resolution seeking the release of Madani by Kerala Assembly has not been passed on the demand of common Muslim. He also termed the phenomenon of taking benefit of reservation based on religion as anti-Quran. He also said the decision of Gandhiji to support the Khilafat movement was wrong.
Speaking on the birth of minority rights in India, Shri K.N. Bhat, senior advocate of Supreme Court and a leading expert on the Constitution and constitutional laws, said the real concern of the Constituent Assembly was to avoid discrimination against minorities and not conferring any special rights on them.
Citing Article 25 of the Constitution, Dr Jitendra Bajaj, noted scholar, said the Sub-Clause (b) of the Clause 2 of this article takes away from the majority the freedom provided by Clause 1 to all. He said the clause allows unlimited interference by the State in the religious affairs of the majority in the name of social welfare and reform. Referring to the misuse of the Clause by several governments he cited the poor state of affairs in several Hindu temples that have been taken over by the government in different parts of the country. He said Hindus could not even perform proper pooja in those temples and money offered to the deities in those temples was being misused.
Shri T.H. Choudhary, who has been in forefront of exposing the ‘pseudo-secularism and the ‘communal’ face of their practitioners, said one-third of India has been lost; Hindus are expelled and ethnically cleansed from that lost land and in the remaining parts of the country they are under siege. Shri J.S. Rajput, former chairman of NCERT, said India is today in the grip of a group of people who wants to pollute the education. Well-known columnist, commentator and former MP, Shri Balbir K. Punj conducted the proceedings of the first session. Shri Dina Nath Mishra, founder president of India First Foundation and former MP, said the preparations for the seminar had been going on for the last three months. About 200 distinguished personalities of Delhi were present on the occasion.
The Sangh welcomes any campaign for national unity
Statement of RSS Sarsanghachalak Shri K.S. Sudarshan issued from Nagpur on March 13
The baseless speculations by a few newspapers involving my name regarding the visit of Shri Lal Krishna Advani to Nagpur on March 10-11, have deeply pained me. The Ahmedabad-based correspondent Ajya Umat, whose report was carried by The DNA of Mumbai and later it was taken up by the Dainik Bhaskar of Delhi and a few other newspapers, without contacting me, Shri Mohanji Bhagwat or Shri Advaniji and sitting in Ahmedabad released a fabricated report about this meeting in Nagpur. Refuting the whole news report I say that the conclusions mentioned in that report are totally untrue.
During his visit to Nagpur, Shri Advani came to Sangh Karyalaya, had meal with me and later had a discussion with Shri Mohanji for about 45 minutes. The second day he attended the Amrit Mahotsava ceremony of an old and dedicated worker Shri Diwakar Dhakras of Nagpur as chief guest, where I was also present as an audience. At the press conference held in the evening when he was asked as to what he discussed with Sarsanghachalak, he said, “I normally go to the Sangh Karyalaya every time I visit Nagpur. This time also I went there on March 10, had meal with Sudarshanji and had discussion as usual. Three days back also when he came to Delhi I had a discussion with him at my residence.” When asked whether it means that the relations with the Sangh have improved, he said, “I never had any strained relations with the Sangh.”
After this reality, if somebody drives any fabricated conclusion out of it, it only means that there are some vested interests behind releasing such news.
As far as the rath yatras by Shri Rajnath Singh and Shri Advaniji are concerned, they are with the objective of cautioning the countrymen about the dangers of Muslim appeasement to the unity and integrity of the country, and there is no question of Sangh opposing it. The Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha of the Sangh has also adopted a resolution expressing concern over this danger. The Sangh always supports any activity aimed at making the society aware of the dangers to the unity and integrity of the country.
Yatras not against minorities
-L.K. Advani
“We are not campaigning against minorities. This should be understood by all. Today, I feel a campaign against minorityism is necessary to caution the government that the vote-bank politics is not only dangerous for the country but also not in the interest of minorities itself,” said Shri L.K. Advani, Leader of Opposition while speaking at the seminar. Terming the minority appeasement as petty vote-bank politics, he said the appointment of Sachar Committee purportedly to count the number of Muslims in armed forces provocated him to take such a step in this regard. He said even Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was opposed to reservation for minorities after independence saying that it would lead to isolation. Shri Advani cited religious reservation for Muslims in AMU and Andhra Pradesh, amendment in Foreign Act to provide patronage to Bangladeshi infiltrators, appointment of Sachar Committee, resolution in Kerala assembly seeking release of Madani and the recent Banerjee Committee’s report as the strong incidents during the last two years of UPA rule that purely indicated the minority appeasement. “All these incidents prove how low-level politics can be resorted to appease minorities. This is not going to benefit the minorities at all,” he added. He said during the NDA government they took four steps against terrorism, which include mobilisation of world opinion against terrorism, pressing Pakistan to deny use of their soil for terrorists, busting the modules of ISI in the country and formulation of POTA.
Labels: Minority Appeasement
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