[Hon’ble Hamid Ansari, Former Vice President of India, graced the grand program organised to commemorate the 60 years of Radiance Viewsweekly at India International Centre on 22nd October 2023. Speaking as Chief Guest, in his keynote speech on “Media and Minorities,” he made some very pertinent remarks on the subject. We publisheda part of this speech last week; the concluding part of it is being published here.– Editor]
It is evident from these reports that the principal problems confronting India’s Muslims relate in greater degree to the shortfalls that affect other minorities. Each of these is a right of the citizen. The shortcomings in regard to each have been analysed threadbare. Identity is unquestionably linked to ordinary expressions of faith and of language that is often transgressed socially; both need to be protected within the legal framework.
The challenge before us today is to develop strategies and methodologies to address them.
Breach of Security
Instances of breach of security at individual or group level continue to occur with disturbing frequency. Most reveal a failure of the state apparatus to respond in a timely manner, compounded by failure of media houses that often ‘dictate a majoritarian mindset.’ A good instance of it is the report entitled Delhi’s Agony on the communal violence in Delhi in February 2020 and its section subtitled the Aftermath.
Civil society reports on violence elsewhere, and court observations relating to them like the Punjab & Haryana High Court ruling recently in August, suggest a disturbing pattern of studied neglect by local or state administrations.
The default by the State or its agents in terms of deprivation, exclusion and discrimination (including failure to provide security) is to be corrected by the State; this needs to be done at the earliest and appropriate instruments developed for it. Political sagacity, the imperative of social peace, and public opinion play an important role in it. Experience shows that the corrective has to be both at the policy and the implementation levels; the latter, in particular, necessitates mechanisms to ensure active cooperation of the State governments whose response is often tardy.
One aspect of the Delhi Report is its section on ‘Hate as State Project’ and its observation that ‘India is witnessing a carefully crafted phenomenon, Hate as State Project, concertedly unleashed against the most marginalised sections of our population.’ Since both hate and polarization need vehicles for dissemination, the 24-hour news television and sections of the social media provide the platform for it. Instances of it also surfaced in the first phase of Covid.
Hate is a toxic tonic. It is, regrettably, becoming part of normal discourse and is not being discouraged. Hate crimes convey a message to targeted communities that they are unwelcome and unsafe, impacting the collective sense of security and well-being. It has been suggested that it necessitates a collective effort involving legislative reforms, sensitisation campaigns, community policing and youth engagement.
The official objective of sab ka sath sab ka vikas is commendable; a pre-requisite for it however is affirmative action to ensure a common starting point and an ability in all to walk at the required pace. This ability has to be developed through individual, social and governmental initiatives that fructify on the ground. Programmes have been made in abundance; the need of the hour is their implementation.
Meaningful Correctives
The experience of several decades makes it evident that meaningful correctives would not originate from official agencies and programs, and that they have to emanate at individual, group and community levels, and cover both genders. They have to be realistic, grounded in the ground situation, and devoid of unrealism and nostalgia.
What are these correctives? In the first place, precedence has to be given to self-reliance. Alongside, and looking at what has been done by other minority communities in India and elsewhere, organised community effort has to be promoted as an imperative and in an atmosphere of self-help.
Autonomously, a beginning has to be made with education to fill the gap in levels of both of boys and girls as also of adults. Details of both, including dropout rates, have been quantified and I had mentioned them in an earlier speech and observed that the equality bestowed by faith was diluted or denied by tradition and practice. Particularly disturbing were details of educational levels of girls and the participation of Muslim women in the workforce.
Associated with it is the imperative of inducing young people – men and women – to diligently acquire skills in different professions, notwithstanding the actual or alleged effort in some quarters at explicit discrimination. The effort in all cases has to be on quality since, in the final analysis, such efforts fail when confronted by quality differentiation. In the same vein, independent efforts directed at initiation of small enterprises would bring forth both employment and self-reliance on the pattern of what is being done by other minority communities.
These requirements have to be quantified for better performance.
Pluralism
The population of India is dispersed, has no legal restrictions on locations of residence, and is broadly though not specifically integrated. It adheres mostly to being plural and democratic and is devoted to principles of pluralism. Departures from it, noticeable of late, is disturbing.
Assimilation with fellow citizens is not a legal requirement but does happen sporadically. This is highly desirable and is in need to be strengthened and accelerated. Hence the need for emotional integration and for overcoming problems posed by it from time to time. This effort to assimilate without loss or dilution of identity or identity-markers has to be made in the context of Indian conditions and the uniqueness of its three dimensions: plural, secular and democratic. It would at all times be challenging.
An attempt to implement it can only be made in the context of the Constitution of India and its prescription, and in the principles of Equality and Fraternity enunciated in the Preamble.
Experience tells us that seeking special facilities in the shape of reservations will not be fruitful and the quest for Schedule Caste status for relevant segments of the Muslims and Christians, however justified, would not be conceded politically. A more productive option may be to focus on citizenship rights and their equal dispensation.
Quantifying the corrective and the requirements of the present-day situation is one aspect of this. A journal like the Radiance has to go beyond it and induce its readers – through the power of its pen – to take an active part in bringing about the required change and thus further what its readers would expect from it.
(Concluded)