Indian National Social Action Forum Manual
Chapter 3:
Appeasement of Minorities
The prejudices against minorities are based on a series of grievances (real and imaginary), on half-truths, myths and blatant distortion of reality. The communal organisations have adopted techniques that even the most shameless lie repeated a thousand times over finally becomes self evident truth.
A process of collective myth-making thus emerges by which one community defines its attitudes to the other. The need or search for a common enemy to fight against then takes shape. Similar to Hitler's fabrication of Jews as the `demon' race, the Hindutwavadis have singled out Muslims as the absolute evil. In fact, hostility to Muslims and Islam has always been central to their political logic, including the RSS's brand of nationalism, right from the beginning. All out efforts are thus made to rationalise such myths and on the other hand mythicize reason, logic and rational understanding of social issues. The ultimate aim of all such nefarious notions, designs etc. is to force a new agenda of restructuring the existing socio-political system on the basis of `Hindu nationalism'. An expression of one such `social engineering is the attempt to distort history and general language-text books to project a pro-Hindu-mythology education and on the other hand, attempt to brazenly cultivate anti-Muslim sentiments. In a class-caste driven society with glaring economic disparities the polarization on religious grounds has become an added and pronounced factor today. People are divided as "Us" against "Them". Ultimately, a whole propaganda package of myths, counter myths, un-reason etc. gets fabricated. The great myth of "Muslim pampering and appeasement" etc. etc. is one such package, with its associated cluster of myths. One reason why fascists and communalists make use of myths is that myths appeal to the emotions and reach down to the unconscious mental layers of the people.
Thus Myths need to be examined and exposed, beginning from the most common and simple ones to the more complex ones. Myth: Successive Governments Pampered and Appeased The Muslim Community"
Fact: If an entire community has been "pampered", "appeased" or "favoured" since the last 45 years by successive governments it must stand to reason that this must necessarily be reflected in the socio-economic status of this community. The community should have prospered at a relatively faster rate than the rest. At least large sections of the community, if not all in a horizontally divided society, should be the beneficiaries one way or the other.
The following data speak for themselves:
Employment
Executive Supervi- Clerk Class Workers Total
Cadre sory Cadre Cadre IV
Public Sector 3.19 4.30 12.14 7.93 N.A. 8.16
Private
Sector: 1.19 1.89 6.23
%age figures refer to 13 States, with Muslim population of 14.39% N.A. Not available
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II. State Class 1 Services
Muslims were 3.3. percent by the 1980s
III. High Courts
Out of 310 judges as on 1.4.1980, 14 were Muslims.
IV.All-Indian-Services
In decision making posts in these services, Muslim representation was as follows :
Total Muslims Percentage
Indian Administrative 4,195 90 2.14
service (as on January
1984)
Indian Police Service 2,222 67 3.00
(as on January 1983)
Central secretariat
Service (as on 1971)
-Selection Grade 140 2 1.43
-Grade I 395 5 1.27
-Section Officers 1,666 12 0.72
-Assistants 4,507 19 0.42
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V. Industry
Among the country's top industrial houses, not one is owned or controlled by a Muslim. As to participation in fresh growth of industries, the situation of industrial licenses issued for units between Rs.3 crores and Rs.20 crores during the year 1979 and 1980 is as follows Year Total No. Muslims Sikhs Christians Parsis Others
Approved
1979 260 5 5 - 3 247
(1.9%) (1.9%) (1.2%) (95.0%)
1980 386 6 14 4 1 361
(1.5%) (3.4%) (1.0%) (0.30%) (93.6%)
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Muslims are predominantly in the handicraft sector as skilled artisans. A countrywide survey, which covered 31 districts, from 12 States indicate that out of 12.68 lakh artisans employed in the Sector, 51.89 percent were Muslims. But Muslim ownership accounted for only 4.4 percent. In terms of financial assistance, Muslim borrowers were 4.3 percent, and the volume of loans paid out to them was 2.02 percent. The total financial sector disbursed only 3.76 percent differential interest rate credit to Muslims. The average per capita income of Muslims is 5 per cent less than the national average of Rs.4,247.
VI. Education
According to the survey of the Planning Commission, 1987-88, the average literacy rate among Muslims was 42 per cent, which is less than the national average of 52.11 percent. In the case of women, 11 per cent Muslim women were literate compared to the national average of 39.42 per cent. Figures for the period 1980-81, indicate that the educational status of this community is that (1) only 4 per cent appeared in Class X (Board of Secondary Education) Examination in 8 States, out of the total that appeared for the examinations, and (2) there were only 3.4 percent Muslims in Graduate Engineering and 3.44 percent in MBBS. In his book, "Muslims in Free India", Moin Shakir reveals that at the time of the Partition, the representation of Muslims in the armed forces, was 32% but today it stands at a mere 2%.
Myth: Religious minorities are allowed to run educational institutions with no interference from the government.
Fact: All religious communities, including Hindus, are allowed to and do operate educational institutions relatively free of government control and to offer religious education to co-religionists in such institutions. To illustrate, there is also the Benaras Hindu University (BHU) like the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) and several other educational institutions which are linked to religious bodies and denominations, such as Arya Samaj or Sanathan Dharma, or those linked with Christian, Sikh and other minorities.
In the case of AMU and BHU, the central statutes governing both are identical in prohibiting discrimination in admissions and appointments on religious grounds.
It happens that there are more than 35 per cent Hindu students, and more than 25 per cent in staff appointments in the AMU and substantially more in the engineering and medical faculties. Naturally, there are more Muslims in enrollment and appointments, because of the AMU's origin, tradition, type of courses offered, and its power of attraction for them. Myth: Muslims are pampered also through such acts as the banning of Rushdie's book, "The Satanic Verses" and declaring Prophet Mohammed's birthday as a national holiday.
Fact: The Rushdie incident and Prophet's birthday are non-issues for the ordinary, average Muslim. Besides, several other books and films have been banned by the Government to appease religious and caste chauvinists or, alternatively, in the interest of law and order. Recently, for example, copies of a Kannada periodical were seized following a court order on the ground that it contained a poem in which Rama was portrayed in a poor light. Myth: Muslims were "appeased by the Shah Bano case and the consequent Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce( Act, 1986"... Fact: The Supreme Court's verdict on the Shah Bano judgment was compromised by the Rajiv Government to appease the patriarchal Muslim hierarchy at the cost of millions of oppressed Muslim masses. It was the poor Muslim women, some of whom had to resort to the provisions of Section 125 of the Criminal Procedure Code for seeking relief through courts in extreme cases of neglect by their husbands. In absolutely no way did it hurt any Hindu interests. Their `objection' arises from the perverted belief that this was `appeasement' of the Muslims.
Above all, this appeasement of the fundamentalist Muslims provide a welcome fodder to the brazen exercise of the Sangh Parivar to project sadhus and mahants in the same direction. By speaking of the supremacy of the `Din' or Faith over the verdict of the Supreme Court in the Shah Bano case the Muslim Fundamentalists laid a precedent for the Sangh Parivar to claim that Faith is above Law and, what is more, the sants and sadhus are also above Law. Truly, though ironically, a case of one rushing in to help the other with the convergent interest of establishing religious hegemony over the existing secular State.
Myth: Concessions to Muslims through "persistent official reluctance to enact a Uniform Civil Code.
The issue of the Uniform Civil Code today has been greatly communalised. Hindu revivalists are clamouring for it on the grounds that the minorities enjoy certain privileges under their personal laws while Hindus do not. What they conveniently overlook is the fact that propertied Hindus are not subject to any national code. Instead they enjoy certain special privileges which caters to only their interests, viz. the benefits under Hindu Undivided Family/Co-Parcenary Property concept. Not only is this a privilege restricted to Hindus, women are denied equal rights within the Undivided Hindu Family. None among the Hindutwavadis have come forwards to proclaim that these features militate against Article 44 of the Constitution. Moreover, legal prohibition does not deter Hindu (or other non-Muslims) men from taking on more than one wife, deserting the wives (without bothering about divorce), defaulting on allimony and child maintenance. Demanding dowry, and indulging in similarly unlawful behaviour, e.g. the practice of `maitri karar' (friendship agreement).
Furthermore, many Hindu revivalists who otherwise champion the cause of Uniform Civil Code fought bitterly against the efforts to make anti-sati legislation more effective following the Roop Kanwar tragedy in 1987. They claim that the State has no right to interfere with Hindu faith and tradition. Ultimately the point being stressed is that the Civil Code should be common and uniform for all citizens. A Civil Code however would mean not only the abandonment of the Muslim Personal Law but also such laws mentioned above, i.e. the Hindu Undivided Family Act. This means that equal rights and justice will have to be granted to women in all matters of inheritance and other areas.
Second given the highly pluralistic constitutional framework of our country interrogation of Personal Laws including Hindu Law should proceed not in terms of "appeasement" but in terms of gross violation of norms of gender justice. "Any political party condemning "appeasement" ought to present the nation its own agenda of reform which retains cultural identity while removing the denial of rights arising from tradition. In the absence of any agenda mass mobilization could only cruelly disrupt communal harmony" (Upendra Baxi, Times of India, 1.1.93)
References1. Padachira P (ed.), "Ayodhya : Its implication for the Indian State and Society", BUILD, Bombay 1992.
2. Yechury S, "Pseudo Hinduism Exposed", CPI (M), New Delhi, 1993. 3. Moleke, "The Concerned for Working Children", 1&2, Bangalore, 1993. 4. Bardhan A B, "Prejudices and Myths that Feed Communalism", CPI, New Delhi, 1993.
5. Krishnakumar Asha, "Canards on Muslims",Frontline, Madras, October 12, 1991.
6. Goriawalla N (Et al), "Partly True and Wholly False", ASTHA, Bombay 1993. 7. "Communalism', The Great Concern, Indo-German Social Service Society, New Delhi, 1991.
8. Dogra, B. "Posters on National Integration", New Delhi.