Dimensions of Minority Appeasement

Dimensions of Minority Appeasement

                                                                       

I.         Internationally accepted definition of ‘Minority’:

            “A group of numerically inferior to the rest of the population of a state, in a non-dominant position, whose members – being nationals of the state –possess ethnic, religious or linguistic characteristics differing from those of the rest of the population and show, if only implicitly, a sense of solidarity, directed towards preserving their culture, traditions, religion or language” – Special Rapporteur Francesco Capotorti, for the Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities of the U.N.

            Definition, after a review of all earlier attempts, by A.S. Akermark (Justifications of Minority Protection in International Law : Kluwer Law International) :

            “A minority is a non-dominant, institutionalised group sharing a distinct cultural identity that it wishes to preserve.”

II.        'Minorities' as seen by the British Rule and the self-perception of the Muslim Leadership.

            Address presented to Lord Minto by Deputation of Muslim Community of India on 1-10-1906 :

            “We .... urge that the position accorded to the Mohammedan Community in any kind of representation ..... should be commensurate, not merely with their numerical strength, but also with their political importance ..... and to give due consideration to the position which they occupied in India a little more than hundred years ago ...”

            Lord Minto's reply :

            ‘.... Mohomedan Community may rest assured that their political rights and interests as a community will be safeguarded.’

III       Two distinct streams of the development of the concept of 'minority' in India :

            A         Under the British Rule

           B.       Developments in Inter-national relations  after the Great Wars and dissolution of                          empires

                        A.        Under the British Rule: Indian Constitutional Progression:

                        1) 1909 Morle –Minto Reforms:

                              Separate electoral rights to Muslims & Europeans (as minorities)

2)     1910 Census : 1 Hindus  2 Tribes

                                            3. Dalits; untouchables

3) 1916 Lucknow: Congress-League Scheme

Substantial political representation in Councils to 'minorities': only Muslims are    mentioned.

4) 1932 Communal Award, Poona Pact,   Govt. of India Act 1919

                             Govt. of India Act 1935:

                            Representation in Governance to minorities:

1.            Anglo Indians

2.            Europeans

3.            Indian Christians

4.            Parsees

5.            Sikhs

6.            Scheduled Castes

           (Earlier described as Depressed Classes)

5)                 Framing of the Constitution by Constituent Assembly

                              (Boycotted by Muslim League : and after Partition, without Muslim League):

1. Advisory Committee Report, 8.8.1947: Joint Electorates with reservation to     minorities:

                        Group A:        Anglo-Indians, Parsees & Plains-tribes men in Assam

                        Group B :       Indian Christians & Sikhs

                        Group C :       Muslims & Scheduled Castes.

                 2.   After Partition:

Advisory Committee appointed a special sub-committee and after its report, made its report to the Constituent Assembly (with the concurrence of the members of the minority communities on the committee): 11.5.1949.

      ‘The System of Reservation for minorities other than Scheduled Castes in Legislatures be abolished.’

"in the long run, it would be in the interest of all to forget that there is anything like majority or minority in this country and that in India there is only one community"

                 Sardar Patel in Constituent Assembly on 25.5.1949

B.     Developments in the International Relations:

'Minority' after World War I and dissolution of empires: 1. Ottoman    2. Czar

   3.  Astro-  hungarian & Prussian.

The League of Nations was created after the end of World War I. Versailles Peace Treaty was signed & Paris Peace Conference was convened in January 1919. The Covenant of the League of Nations was adopted on April 28, 1919.

In a way the winners, the U.S., the U.K. and some others took control of the world and with a declared objective of lasting peace and international co-operation went about establishing states with international obligations...

            As it was described, in this upheaval of history, territories were re-distributed and new borders were drawn. New territories were incorporated in already existing states, and new states were created and recognised.

            All this was done by treaties with all such states:

All this redrawing of boundaries resulted in putting people in countries to which they did not volunteer to go. And it became the duty of the system that did this to protect their rights. Hence the concept of Minority Protection.

Treaties were signed with Poland, Serbs, Croats, Slovans, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Greece, Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary and Turkey.

New States were declared = Albania, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Iraq.

Thus the concept of minority protection was part of treaties under the League of Nations. And these ethnic, religious or linguistics minorities were citizens of the respective states because of their inclusion in the new boundaries of these States.

At the international level Human Rights became the subject of further discourse and rights of minorities were part of that under the subsequent U.N. System.

The issue was of day to day importance in the European situation and hence the subject matter of several European Documents, which we may not go into.

          Under the U.N. System:

            1) International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966).

Art. 27: In those States in which ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities exist, persons belonging to such minorities shall not be denied the right, in community with the other members of their group, to enjoy their own culture, to profess and practice their own religion, or to use their own language.

2) Declaration on the Rights of Persons belonging to national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities (1992).

The preamble of this Declaration views them ' as an integral part of the development of society as a whole and within a democratic framework based on the Rule of Law.

IV.      Minority under the Indian Constitution:

            In the chapter on Fundamental Rights, Protection of Interests of minorities is enumerated under the sub-heading 'Cultural and Educational Rights' in two Articles, Article 29 and 30. The scope of these articles was enlarged by judicial pronouncements which can be justly criticized. Article 25 to 28 under the sub-heading 'Right to freedom of Religion' are sometimes, erroneously treated as part of minority protection. And in the same way secularism is erroneously equated with the rights of minorities.

It is interesting to note, without comment, the progress of the T.M.A. Pai Foundation’s Writ Petition in the Supreme Court. While examining the rights of the minority institutions to admit students without following the common entrance test criterion, the Bench raised a question asto what is a ‘minority’. The question was referred to a larger bench. Ultimately the case wants to a larger bench of eleven judges. In the process, the question 'what is a minority' was lost. Other additional five questions the 11 judge bench did not answer, one of them being what is 'religion'!

As a matter of academic interest, it may be mentioned that the ratio of this 11 judge bench decision was explained by a '5 judge bench' and that was overruled by a ruling of a '7 judge bench'!

V.        1) Notable Point regarding Muslims as a minority:

                  They do not fall under the internationally accepted definition:

They were never in a non-dominant position in this country.

They did not want protection –

They demanded rights as former rulers.

             2) Notable points regarding Christians as a minority:

      They belonged to the ruling class. They extracted the right to propagate religion          as  a   fundamental right which is not available under any Constitution of the World.

VI.      History of Appeasement:

1) During the British Rule: the Congress was over-anxious to get Muslim participation in the freedom movement, hence the concessions and appeasement policy =

·        Lucknow Pact

·        Khilaphat Movement

·         Killer of Swami Shraddhananda  Bhai Rashid for Mahatma

·        Vandemataram Abridged, Abandoned

·        Saffron Flag – not adopted

·        Constitution making – separate electorate accepted

        2) After Independence:

·        Concessions to Pakistan

·        Nehru-Liaquat Pact

·        Rann of Cutchcha

·        Kashmir

                Vote-bank politics:

·        Soft on Terrorists, Bangladeshis   

·        Denial of Legitimate Hindu Rights

               UPA steps :

·        Sachar Committee

·        Rangnath Mishra Commission

·        PM's 15 point programme

·        Minority Institutions – Legislation

·        Andhra:  Communal Reservation.

·        Aligarh :  Communal Reservation

·        Targeting Gujarat

·        Ramsetu

·        Amarnath

·        Khandhaman: Murder of    Laxmananand

·        Aligarh campuses in muslim –majority  districts from West Bengal to Kerala

·        No reservations in Minority Institutions.

VII.     Minority Protection under Article 29 & 30 of the Constitution:

1              For citizens of India

2              For linguistic and religious minorities; here there is no ethnic minority.

3              State-specific status of both.

4              Not above the Law of the Land :

5              No reverse discrimination.

(Law as laid down in the case of TMA Pai Foundation v/s State of Karnataka W P (Civil)      No. 31711993 decided on 31-10-2002) (11 judge bench orders)

VIII.   Dimensions of Minority    Appeasement:

1.      Further divisiveness, separation, ghettoisation.

2.      The purpose of minority protection is to develop a homogeneous society. The appeasement policy achieves a converse purpose of keeping them separate and fighting. It creates an intolerant minority.

3.      It is useful to ponder over the following observations of Prof. Ramesh Chandra in 'Ethnic minorities and identity politics'.

The issue of segregating national minority study modules into an elective designed to extend specific knowledge to a self-selected audience raises the issue of whether the purpose of these norms is simply to ensure access by national minorities to an education that includes their own culture or to ensure the development of a society based on a tolerant and diverse citizenry. An Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) report published in September 2001 suggests that 'education systems should not just be 'fair' to minorities – they should promote a spirit of equality and tolerance among ethnic and cultural groups'. In a report on minority rights in education in Estonia, Latvia, Romania and Macedonia, it is similarly concluded that:

"Learning apart does not encourage living together" and that

'There is a danger of a strictly mono-lingual /mono-religious/mono-cultural or even mono-racial approach leading, to ghettoisation of minorities.

The results of exclusive Madras-education are there for all to see.

4. A deliberate attempt to alienate the muslim minority from the mainstream has a direct impact on the threat of jihadi terror to the civilizations of the world. Ghettoisation, alienation and propagandist education breeds a sense of injury and anger : And it finds an outlet : which is provided with cool precision : which is called the cocktail of Koran with Kalashnikov.

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References:

1.      Justification of Minority Protection in International Law

-Athanasia Spiliopoulou Akermark

  Kluiver Law International, The Hague

2.      Politics in the Vernacular- Will Kymlicka, Oxford

3.      B. Shiva Rao’s The Framing of India’s Constitution Vol. 1 to 6

      Editor- Subhash Kashyap. Universals

      4.   Government of India Acts, Constitution of India

5.   Blackstone’s International Human Rights Documents

        -R.R. Ghandhi    Universals

6.  Making of India’s Constitution

         - H.R. Khanna, Eastern Book Company

7.  Thought on Religious Politics in India Vol.1 to 3

      Compiled & Edited –Pramod Shah

      Society for National Awareness, Kolkata

 8.  Constituent Assembly Debates