As per its Constitution, the Indian state is sovereign (against external interference), as well as secular and democratic. The Constitution advocates the values of justice, freedom, equality and fraternity. The state is expected to ensure equitable treatment towards all citizens and provide them with equality of opportunity. In particular, Article 38 of the Constitution presents welfare state as the desired goal, requiring the government to work for overcoming disparity that presently exists in Indian society.
Historically, India is characterised by plurality. People belonging to various religions, communities, linguistic groups and cultural entities, reside here; on the whole in mutual harmony. Our Parliament should reflect this diversity of Indian society. In the recent past, the country has made remarkable progress in science, technology, industry and education. But a significant segment of the population does not enjoy the fruits of this development. Uneven progress among various sections of society has given rise to discontent, social imbalance and economic injustice.
Elections to Lok Sabha are due in April 2019. Unfortunately, the last five years have witnessed weakening of basic constitutional values. Many politicians seem to be working for the interests of corporate lobby. The economic setup is such that the rich-poor gap is increasing and India’s record of combating poverty is among world’s worst countries. Unemployment is on the rise and genuine interests of the masses are being ignored, in favour of the capitalist lobby.
There is unprecedented sense of insecurity among the minorities and weaker sections. In particular, Dalits feel themselves vulnerable in all parts of the country. Land of Adivasis is being grabbed by corporates, while the farmers are facing numerous problems. Muslims constitute the largest minority in the country, but their security is severely compromised. After tabling of the Sachar Committee Report, some measures were initiated for their socio-economic welfare. Even such measures have now been forgotten.
Muslim Personal Law is increasingly under attack from misguided elements. Religious and cultural identity of Muslims and their cultural rights are being targeted. The present ruling dispensation had promised to combat corruption in the country. But corruption is on the rise and has acquired huge proportions. Even very prestigious institutions are not safe from it.
A grave problem today is the erosion of autonomy of institutions. Fascist tendencies are bent upon subordinating them. Autonomy of institutions is a key feature of democratic functioning; it is being compromised. CBI, Vigilance Commission and Reserve Bank are all losing their respective independent roles. Even the Election Commission and Judiciary seem to be under pressure. This situation is a grave danger for survival of democracy, in the country.
In spite of such grave portents, we are sure that Indian people have enough resilience to overcome the present difficulties and they would be able to preserve healthy norms of governance. For this to happen, it is necessary that in 2019 elections, such elements come to power who would respect the Constitution and its democratic values. On getting power, they would work to ensure rule of law and autonomy of state institutions; checking undue interference of narrow-minded politicians.
Message: One needs to remember that God consciousness, piety, ethical sensitivity and sincere religiosity are key factors for building a healthy society. Unfortunately today, religion has acquired a negative image. It stands for petty disputes, social discord and exploitation of weaker sections. Instead of such negative features, we need real religious spirit to cultivate ethical values in society.
Jamaat-e-Islami Hind has initiated a popular movement to invite people towards God. He alone is the Creator and Master of us all. The Jamaat invites people to worship God alone and render to Him, total and unconditional obedience, in all matters. In particular, the Jamaat invites the representatives of people to the truth and right path. They should be conscious of being accountable to God, for all their actions. The Jamaat also reminds voters that they are equally responsible and accountable for their conduct. Only with true commitment to God, one may expect an atmosphere of human brotherhood which ensures true justice and equality. Justice ultimately flows from sincere obedience of God’s commands.
Jamaat-e-Islami Hind hereby presents this manifesto to voters as well as political parties, with great hopes. The document reflects genuine feelings of people and invites political parties to ensure better and principled governance. The Jamaat does not contest elections itself but in view of their importance, it reminds people as well as their representatives of their crucial role at this juncture.
They must all act sensibly and responsibly to ensure protection and promotion of healthy values and norms such as peace, rule of law, respect for human dignity, good neighbourliness, equal opportunities for progress and justice. We seek the support of political parties to implement this manifesto. Their commitment to it would encourage sober elements among people to extend to them their support. Thus, one might expect that our country would witness better governance, in near future.
Duty of the Government
To ensure human rights’ protection and equal opportunity for all, the following should be included in the action agenda of every political party, committed to welfare and progress of people.
- Provision of basic necessities for all citizens. They include clean air, water, food, clothing, house, education, healthcare, clean environment and life of dignity.
- Protection of all citizens, and in particular weaker sections (such as the poor, women, Muslims and deprived segments) against injustice, aggression, mob violence, state violence and communal bias.
- Comprehensive healthy development of all regions and sections, with particular attention to marginalised regions, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Muslims, rural population and other deprived sections.
- Protection of religious, linguistic and cultural rights of minorities, various linguistic groups and cultural entities. This implies protection of personal law, places of worship and other religious places.
- Elimination of evils such as corruption, indecency, illicit sex, favouritism, criminalisation of public life, improper discrimination and aggression. Instead, noble values should be promoted such as honesty, integrity, modesty, chastity, and universal human brotherhood. Cultural identity of each community needs to be protected. State machinery and political establishment should abide by universal moral values. Such an attitude on their part would restore people’s faith in the governing apparatus. It would lead to greater cooperation with people.
Policy Initiatives
An 18-point programme is presented below. We appeal to political parties to adopt it.
- Basic Necessities
The third part of the Constitution needs to be suitably amended to incorporate ‘right to livelihood’ encompassing all basic necessities of an individual. Thus, the state should ensure for all its citizens, clean air, clean water, healthy environment, proper food, clothing, shelter, education and medical treatment. To implement the constitutional requirements, necessary regulations should be enacted and budget provisions made.
- Affirmative Action
For the uplift of deprived sections, affirmative action is an accepted strategy all over the world. Since Indian Muslims are a deprived lot, it is necessary to provide reservation for them. Hence the Ranganath Mishra Committee’s Report should be implemented. Reservation for all minorities should be provided in education and jobs. Among such reserved positions, two-third should be marked for Muslims.
- State Institutions
Autonomy of various institutions of governance should be ensured, through effective safeguards. To that end, heads of such institutions should not be nominated by the government but an alternate procedure should be devised. Media should be free but responsible. Legal measures are required to check false news and baseless propaganda. To that end, Press Council should be given legal powers. The ambit of Lokpal authority should include political parties and big business. Transparency in governance should be ensured and e-governance needs to be encouraged.
- Employment
The existing provision of MGNREGA should be suitably amended to guarantee gainful employment, throughout the year. Urban poor need a similar legal measure to provide them with employment. Under the principle of corporate social responsibility, private sector should be asked to create employment avenues in rural areas, as well.
- Development with Justice
Economic system should be reorganised to create wealth and also ensure its equitable distribution. To that end, agriculture-based economy, small manufacturing units and small-scale business need to be encouraged. Cottage industry, traditional crafts and local enterprise should be protected from encroachment by big business. International companies and foreign investment should not be permitted to operate in key sectors. Senseless and harmful privatisation should be checked. Existing regulations regarding SEZ should be suitably amended, to protect poor sections, farmers and workers. Public money and bank deposits should not be used to promote the interest of capitalists. Illegitimate support extended to the capitalist lobby for political gains, should be stopped.
- Agriculture
To develop the agricultural sector, a comprehensive policy should be devised and implemented. Recommendations of MS Swaminathan Commission should be followed. Minimum price of agricultural produce should be 50 per cent greater than expenses incurred. About custody and sale of agricultural land, the much needed reforms should be initiated. Corporate agriculture should be discouraged and future selling be checked. In the face of natural calamity, farmers should be given assistance through Calamity Fund.
- Taxation
The Government should provide more resources for welfare measures and to that end, necessary reforms in existing regulations should be initiated. Taxes on the rich should be proportionately greater. Direct taxes should have greater rate than indirect ones. GST should be reformed to reduce its complexity, exempting small traders and items of mass consumption. Unnecessary taxes on petrol and diesel should be dropped. Whole taxation system should be geared to be people friendly rather than corporate friendly.
- Atrocities on Religious Communities
Effective legal measures should be initiated to check increasing atrocities on minorities. Mob lynching should invite appropriate legal punishment and the perpetrators be swiftly identified and booked. National Advisory Council has already given important suggestions to prevent riots and ensure rehabilitation of victims of riots. Similar measures are needed for victims of mob lynching as well. Law should help those who face social boycott for no fault of theirs. Legal measures should be invoked to check provocative speech and statements as well as false rumours.
- Religious and Cultural Rights of Minorities
The religious and cultural rights of minorities should enjoy guaranteed protection. Triple Talaq ordinance should not be allowed to continue. There should be no interference in Muslim Personal Law. Minority character of minority educational institutions should be safeguarded. In particular, the minority character of Aligarh Muslim University and Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi should be preserved. In some regions, the rights of minorities are denied in such matters as freedom of worship, freedom of conscience, education in consonance with their cultural precepts, freedom of attire and choice to wear Hijab. Such interference should stop.
- Police Reforms
Police should be professional, impartial, ethically sensitive and people-friendly. To that end, the recommendations made by National Police Commission should be followed. Comprehensive reformative measures should be initiated to revamp the police. Twenty-five per cent reservation for minorities would help in making police behaviour impartial. Recommendations about police, made by National Minority Commission should also be implemented.
- Sachar Commission Follow-up
Sachar Committee, in its report, suggested the concept of ‘diversity index’. This idea needs to be put into practice, in private sector as well as public sector; in accordance with Kundu Committee’s recommendations in this regard. Diversity Index would help deprived sections get better opportunities. While initiating welfare measures, Diversity Index should be kept in view. Formation of equal opportunity commission, with suitable powers, would be helpful in removing disparity. The commission is expected to ensure proper representation of deprived sections in public and private sectors. Sachar Committee recommendations should be implemented in letter and spirit. In welfare schemes, a ‘Muslim component plan’ should be invariably included.
- Education Policy
Policy on education needs comprehensive review, after wide consultation. It is wrong to impose, through syllabi and related measures, a particular culture and set of beliefs on the diverse Indian population; such tendencies should be checked through clear guidelines. Eight per cent of resources in the budget should be made available for education. In particular, primary education should not be deprived of required resources. Educationally weak sections, such as Muslims, should be helped through special schemes, to ensure their access to education.
- Security Regulations
Several legislations are presently in force, in the name of security of the state. They include UAPA, AFSPA, NSA, similar laws in various states, IT Act and provision of IPC. All of them should be sensitised to ensure that human rights are not violated. In particular, such legislations should not be in conflict with ‘international covenant on civil and political rights.’ Similarly, the ‘convention against torture’ should be honoured. We should be willing to endorse the ‘international convention for the protection of all from enforced disappearance.’ Our legislations should not violate international norms and conventions.
- Inquiry into Disruptive Acts
There is an urgent need for formation of an independent judicial commission to inquire into disruptive acts that have occurred. Within its ambit of inquiry, it should include destructive acts, blasts and instances of mob violence. All such incidents should be thoroughly investigated to find out the truth and identify real culprits. Then fast track courts should deliver swift justice and punish the guilty. Today there are thousands of innocents who have unnecessarily suffered because of unjust laws and highhandedness of state machinery. Such victims of state actions should be suitably compensated. Those who wilfully and knowingly conspired to brand innocents as criminals should be appropriately punished. Necessary legal measures should be devised for this purpose.
- Assam and Kashmir
No attempt should be made to re-introduce the vastly unpopular Citizenship Amendment Bill or impose it in the form of ordinance. Continuing harassment of people, in the name of NRC should stop. Many poor workers have migrated from Indian Bengal to Assam, in search of livelihood. They should not be branded as Bangladeshis. Proper counselling should be provided for them so that they procure necessary documents and they should be allowed to work for livelihood.
To identify migrants from abroad, a suitable mechanism should be devised, taking into confidence the various segments of population. Migrants should be treated in accordance with international conventions. Their human rights should be protected, in all situations. Loss of human lives in Jammu and Kashmir should be checked. People’s elected representatives should be given the task of routine governance, instead of the army.
- Interest-Free Banking
Interest-free banking should be introduced in the banking sector. Dr. Raghuram Rajan had headed a subcommittee of Planning Commission, which had debated financial sector reforms. In accordance with its recommendations, interest-free banking activity (based on profit sharing) should be permitted. State Bank of India had planned to initiate Shariah-compliant equity fund. The fund should now be launched. The idea of ‘TAKAFUL’ (collective security) should be introduced in the field of insurance, to avoid interest.
- Proper Use of Waqf Properties
Joint Parliamentary Committee had suggested a number of measures regarding Waqf properties. The existing Wakf Act 2013 should be suitably amended in the light of these suggestions. A number of necessary steps have already been identified. For instance, Wakf law should take precedence over rent control and revenue laws, enacted by various states. Survey of Waqf assets should be regularly done and survey report should be available to public on internet. CEO should be given necessary powers to remove illegal occupants of waqf properties. Government officials found negligent in removing illegal occupation should be penalised. Waqf boards should be headed by honest and impartial persons. A bill to protect waqf properties is pending for several years in the Parliament. It is called ‘Wakf Properties (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Bill 2104.’ It should be speedily passed. A national waqf service should be initiated, under UPSC; as suggested by Sachar Committee.
- International Treaties
Endorsement of Parliament should be necessary before entering into any treaty with some other country. Similar endorsement should be required before becoming signatory to some international convention or initiating some key change in the country’s foreign policy. Such requirement should be made mandatory by suitably amending the Constitution. Parliament should ensure that foreign policy is just and free from external pressure. India should stand against imperialist tendencies. It should promote human values in international arena, ensuring people’s participation in forming representative governments of their choice. India’s foreign policy should aim at cultivating better relations with neighbours and should promote mutual cooperation among countries of South Asia.