Mohsin
Shahid
Indian
society is characterized as one of the most ethnically divided society in the
world. From culture to civilization and from religion to ethnicity, India
stands as the only vulnerable state in the world with fault lines of ethno
national movements. According to Foreign Policy Journal, there are more than
"30 armed insurgent movements in India”. One commonality in all these
insurgencies is that they are represented by non-Hindu communities in India. At
the same time, state of India does look into these movements as a threat to
Hindu dominance within the Indian polity. This notion of mistrust among
insurgent communities and the state is historically embedded in the
self-proclaimed Superiority of Hindutva against the non Hindus in India.
There
are multiple reasons of constant mistrust of non Hindu communities; economic
disparity, marginalization of lower castes, religious persecutions, quota
system and ethnic cleansing. In the after math of Bhartiya Janta Party’s (BJP)
arrival in power, the above mentioned aspects of mistrust have grown. With the
rise of Hindu vigilantism, non Hindu communities are now in the worst condition
in their socio-economic position. The current situation of minorities in India
has given birth to a new kind of identity crisis where there is uncertainty,
confusion and insecurity for non Hindu communities.
According
to World Bank Report for 2016, 1 in 5 Indians is living below the poverty line.
Among them, schedule castes (SC) are the most affected by poverty as every
second Indian in SC is living below the poverty line. Another report by
National Council for Applied Economic Research (NCAER), the plight of Indian
Muslims is even worse than any other religious community in India. 3 out of 10
Muslims are living below the poverty line in India. These estimates show that
India's economic system is exclusive for Hindu community altering the due share
of non Hindus. Further fission of rural and urban statistics of poverty, the
situation becomes even horrific where rural population is estimated to live by
mneager means of income.
Social
exclusion of a certain community is directly proportional to marginalization.
In India, socially marginalized groups belong to Hindu low castes, Dalits and
non Hindu communities. Apparently, it is a response of Hindus against the rest
but in reality, it is a state patronized phenomenon especially in the recent
past. Though, the marginalization is a historical construct, its instrumental impact
has started benefitting the Hindu dominance in the Indian electoral process.
Marginalized communities are now losing their existence in Indian history,
education System, cultural displays and most of all in political processes.
Religiously
different (non Hindu) groups i.e. Muslims, Christians and Sikhs are facing a
collective response of Hindutva. The principles of Hindutva ideology are
violence, discrimination, religiously motivated rhetoric against minorities,
creating a climate of fear and making non-Hindus feel unwelcome. These
principles are practiced in India with the political and religious
patronization of BJP and RSS respectively. According to Human Right Watch
report for 2018, RSS recruited more than 5,000 religious soldiers to control
cow smuggling and love Jihad. On the eve of Charismas in 2017, Indian
Christians faced insecurity from Hindu vigilantes where many charismas
ceremonies were attacked by RSS.
At
the same time, the persecution of Sikh community by Hindus is a worldwide
phenomenon. Almost 17 percent of total Sikh population has migrated from India
due to religious persecution. The presence of Sikh Diasporas in the U.S.,
Canada, U.K., Australia and Europe illustrates this fact that Sikh community
has been seeking asylum on the basis of religious persecution. Now the same
Sikh community is getting united worldwide to demand their separate state of
Khalistan. The recent display of Sikhs right or separate homeland was in U.S.
and U.K. where Sikh community organized large processions and demanded justice
for Sikhs.
Worst
of state apparatus in India is quota system. It is devised to benefit a few on
behest of larger population. The root cause of social strain against quota system
is based on the caste system of Indian society. Quota system is classified as Other
Backward Classes (OBR) Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) which
is 49% of overall quota system. In the beginning, quota system was appreciated
but now there is resentment among different groups. The more frustrated notion of
quota system is that 49% of quota is allocated for 2/3 of the Indian
population. On the other hand, some dominant Hindu communities have been
demanding to be included in the OBR, SCs and STs to ripe the financial benefits
of quota system. These demands future squeezed the righteous castes as their
due share was distributed among the dominant Hindu castes.
Ethnic
cleansing has turned to a foreign policy instrument for the Indian government.
Although, there are many events to quote from operation ‘Blue Star’ to Gujarat riots,
the recent example is of Rohingya Muslims where Indian government is devising a
plan to deport more than 40,000 Rohingyas from India. The criminal silence of
Indian government over the ethnic cleansing of Rohingyas in Myanmar and
Bangladesh is the testimony of this fact that BJP and RSS are appeared by any
act of aggression against the non Hindu communities. Within India, ethnic
violence has increased manifold. In the first half of 2017, almost 300 communal
incidents were reported in India in which 322 persons were killed and 7,398
were injured.
These
statistics are merely an introduction of worsening plight of minorities in India.
BJP government under PM Modi is taking a calculated risk to convert India into
a complete Hindu nation under the banner of RSS. But this risk is turning into
a nightmare for BJP which was quite eminent in the Gujarat election where
Indian National Congress (INC) secured 77 seats barring BJP from a landslide
victory. If BJP does not reconsider its Hindutva policy, the electoral process
will limit the party to merely a few likeminded Hindus with minorities under
strain, it is foreseeable scenario that BJP-RSS rhetoric of a Hindu India will
face humiliation. The future of India lies in the dominance of non Hindu
communities.
