It is an international rule that minorities should be respected by the respective governments and given protection from exploitation and onslaught of the majority group. But it is a common problem everywhere that minority groups of any category (religious, linguistic, racial, financially weak, complexion or even gender) are exploited, persecuted or even massacred. However, legal authorities have framed laws to protect them. Even the United Nations has directed all nations of the world to respect the freedom and dignity of the minorities apart from UN’s responsibility of involving directly in any cases of violation of such rules.
The term ‘minority’ denotes weaker sections as well as minorities of different categories. Considering the discriminative attitude of certain people, Maulana Sayyid Jalaluddin Omari verifies the reasons for such attitudes. He points out:
1. A majority of human beings have very superficial aims in life.
2. Historically, narrow objectives have appeared in a chronological sequence.
3. On one hand, nationalistic narrow-mindedness has emerged with vehemence. To die for one’s nation is considered the highest situation of an individual. On the other hand, the concept of human equality has been totally forgotten.
4. All narrow aims of life divide humanity; they do not unite it because each narrow aim serves the inherent traits of a group or a class only.
5. Narrow objectives sow the seeds of discord in the human family.
(Islam and the Unity of Mankind, P.1 to 11)
In the book Nations with Discrimination by Capt. Arawind Newale (Access pub. 2012), the authors reveal how discriminative policies of Indian tradition was overtaken by the new law in the cases of women and Harijans. But, in the cases of Muslims, officials show negligent attitude to get lapse any government declared programmes.
ISLAM AND MINORITIES
Religiously speaking, Islam is the only religion that issued clear instructions regarding attitude of a State (an Islamic State) or Muslim community towards Non-Muslim minorities. This was evident during the time of Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be to him) and the period of first four Caliphs (CE 630-664). Unlike other authorities, which theoretically speak equality and democracy, Muslims practised the theoretical aspects presented in the Qur’ān and Tradition. Even though, the Constitution of India is very clear in protecting and uplifting minorities. That officials and politicians act on the contrary is another matter. Some minority groups are favoured, and Muslims, the major minority group, is discriminated against.
Muslims’ attitude towards Non-Muslims is described in the Holy Qur’ān and the Tradition. In Surah 2:256 it is made clear that ‘there is no compulsion in religion’. The Prophet always reminds Muslims that if their family members are not Muslims they should not sever relations with them. He instructed Muslims that no injustice should be done to Non-Muslims because of their religion. After the victory at Makkah all former enemies were pardoned, a rare incident in the history of the world, and they were not discriminated against. The practice was followed in all Muslim countries down to 15th century in Europe (downfall of Spain in 1492) and the 18th century in India (occupation of India by the Europeans).
Syed Muzzafaruddin Nadwi writes; “Prophet of Islam issued ‘Magna Carta’ about fourteen centuries ago granting fundamental rights to the whole of mankind without any distinctions of religion, creed, caste, colour, language etc.” (Comparative Study of Islam and Other Religions, P.105, Adam pub., 2003)
MUSLIM RULE AND MINORITIES
Muslims were the masters of the world from the 7th century C.E. to the 17th century C.E. And, their rule continued in certain regions till the 19th century C.E.
Harun Yahya writes: “History reveals that Islam is the only system to offer a just, tolerant and compassionate way of government in the Middle East. The Pax Ottomana, which came to an end with the withdrawal of Ottoman Empire from the region, has still not replaced.” (Islam Denounces Terrorism, P.89, Adam Pub., 2003).
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru made it clear that “library of Alexandria was destroyed by Emperor Theodosius of Constantinople and not by the Caliph, as Europeans spread”. (Glimpses of World History, P.149).
Robina Quale writes: “The basic worldview of the Muslim rulers and their non-Muslims in the Middle East were similar as Muhammad had recognised when he told his followers to respect Jews and Christians (Eastern Civilization, P.138). Compare this situation with the time of Indian independence. Thousands of Muslims were looted, plundered and killed, and subsequently, the looters occupied traditional Muslim houses in North Indian regions, especially Delhi, Bombay, Punjab and Gujarat.
Explaining the general attitude of Muslim rulers in administration, Mohammad Sohail writes: “One of the most important departments was that of Minister who was charged with the duty of protecting the interests of Non-Muslim subjects of the Caliphate. Every branch of public services, and all offices of rank and trust, was open equally to Muslims, Jews and Christians. Nor was any post or function, unless it pertained to their religion, jealously reserved for the people of their own faith or race. As in Turkey in the present day Christians and Jews were frequently employed envoys to foreign courts” (Administrative and Cultural History of Islam, P.373, Adam pub., Delhi, 2002).
Philip K Hitti writes: “As one of the ‘protected people the Jews fared on the whole even better than the Christians.” (History of Arabs, P.354) (see also page 225) (See A Short History of the Middle East by George E Kirk, P. 18 for attitude of Muslim rulers to Non-Muslims).
Edward Said, a Christian scholar, writes: “A Jewish minority can survive the way other minorities in the Arab world survived… it worked rather well under the Ottoman Empire, with its Millet System. What they had then seems a lot more humane than what we have now.’ (An interview with Edward Said by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Friday, August 18, 2000).
When Salahudin Ayyubi recaptured Jerusalem from European attackers, Jewish minorities were happy, a famous Jewish Yusuf Besald pointed out.
The recapture of Jerusalem by Salahudin Ayyubi is described by Karen Armstrong in these words: “On 2 October 1187 Saladin and his army entered Jerusalem … and conquered the city according to the highest Islamic ideals. He did not take revenge for the 1099 massacre (by Christian forces)… not a single Christian was killed and there was no plunder.” (Karen Armstrong, Holy War, P. 185)
John L Esposito also deals with the same matter and writes: “Churches and the Christian population were left unmolested. Jews, long banned from living there by Christian rulers, were permitted to return.” (Islam: the Straight Path, P. 59).
Regarding Muslim rule in India many historians have revealed the truth, even though few communalists spread contrary to it. (See History of Freedom Movement in India, by Dr. Tarachand, P. 115 on rule of Muslim rulers including Aurangzeb) (Vision of India, by Sisir Kumar Mitra, P.223 on Sindh Occupation by Arabs)
INDIAN SITUATION
The Constitution of India gives complete protection to minorities. It ensures projects to uplift minorities, and based on the constitutional law the previous government declared many schemes for the minorities. Its beneficiaries are minorities other than Muslims.
According to the 45th Constitutional Amendment Bill the term ‘Secular Republic’ is defined as ‘Republic in which there is equal respect for all religions’.
Articles 14 to 18 of the Constitution deal with right to equality. (Equality before Law, Prohibition of Discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth).
Certain politicians and government officials act against the Constitution so as to deny legitimate rights to Muslims. Muslims are denied government aid under the pretext that ‘no religion’ should get special benefit. In fact, Muslims are a community and has nothing to do with their religion for government benefits. They get benefits as educationally and economically backward like other backward Hindu communities.
MUSLIMS IN FREE INDIA
Rajinder Sachar gives a clear picture of the Muslim situation in India. (See Sachar Committee Report). He observes: “In any country the faith and confidence of minorities in the impartial and even functionary of the state is acid test of being a civilized state’’ (Justice Rajinder Sachar’s Foreward to Basant, Rakesh and Shariff, eds. Handbook of Muslims in India, Empirical and Policy Perspectives, Delhi, OUP, 2010,P.xv).
Gayer and Jaffrelot writes: “Muslims are also poorer. The average monthly expenditures of urban Muslims was 800 rupees a month according to the 2004-05 report by the National Sample Survey (NSS), as much as for the Dalits and the Adivasis and much less than for upper-caste Hindus (1469 rupees). On average, over the period 1952-2004 their deprivation rate is below 20% (national), but it is above 50% in Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka. It is close to 80% (79.2%) in Gujarat. (Muslims in Indian Cities, P. 5).
When Muslims are denied reservation and other financial benefits as a ‘religious’ group, SC and ST people get benefits because of their religion (Hindu). The same castes of other religions (eg. Christianity) never enjoy the benefits of Hindu SCs and STs.
MISUNDERSTOOD AND MISINTERPRETED
The term ‘minority’ creates confusion among people. While hearing the term people feel that it refers to Muslims only. In fact, it refers to all minority groups – racial, religious, and linguistic and even gender (as per new development). Minorities include Sikhs, Christians, Buddhist, Parsis and Jains in India. Muslims became a ‘minority’ community in Independent India, after their long rule in India for 800 years. Muslims who were traditionally rich and prosperous were also exploited by the authorities as well as anti-social elements supported by extremists.
MUSLIM PLIGHT
The Sachar Committee as well as the Ranganath Misra Commission revealed that the Muslim community had the lowest literary rate among all Indian communities. Gilles Verniers, who studied the Indian Muslims’ situation, observes: “The representation of Muslims in the police is decreasing, in the civil services too. The central government schemes for minorities do not reach Muslims. They are not even aware of the existence of such programmes. And, those who have access to education come to these areas (i.e. cities) to lead a quiet life or move out elsewhere.” (Muslims in Indian Cities, P. 127, Ed. By Laurent Gayer and Christophe Jaffrelot, Harper-Collins Publication, 2012).
The findings of Verniers are proved to be true even today. The Times of India (Calicut ed., 9 July 2014) news entitled ‘MUSLIM REPRESENTATION IN POLICE DECLINES IN 2013’ says “Notwithstanding UPA regime’s claims that it was committed to implementing Sachar panel’s recommendation for better representation of Muslims in the police forces, the share of minority community has fallen steadily to touch a new low of 6.2% in 2013.
Muslims in police
forces in India
Year Percentage
2001 8.3%
2004 7.11%
2010 6.9%
2011 6.52%
2012 6.5%
2013 6.2%
Muslims are below even the Scheduled caste. Their corresponding representation during 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013 is 13.37%, 13.67%, 14% and 14.7% respectively. Note that the Scheduled Caste representation is not only increasing; it is much more than the Muslims who ruled India once. In Kerala, Muslims constitute 26% of the population but their representation is only 8.6%. In West Bengal it is 9%. In UP with 25% population Muslim representation in police force is only 5.1% and in Bihar it is 3.95%.
Gayer points out the reasons for the backward condition of Muslims in India:
1. Discrimination in the job market is evident from the studies available.
2. Discrimination is even more marked in the public sector where Muslims are largely under-represented.
Discrimination in PSUs
Institutions Hindu Muslim Muslim
OBCs Non-OBCs OBCS
1. Railways 9.3 4.5 0.4
2. PS Us 8.3 2.7 0.6
3. University Education 17.6 3.9 1.4
4. Non-Teaching
Personnel of the 24.9 3 1.7
University
3. The deliberate marginalisation of Muslims by the State.
4. Politically marginalised after partition, Muslims could not put up with the loss of power in the economic field.
5. The authors point out that perplexed riots also destroyed Muslim economy and thereby could not make a normal life. (Verniers writes: “The manner which Muslims have felt besieged and have withdrawn into their shell can also be attributed to the increasingly large number of communal riots that affected Muslims in Indian cities as is evident from the number of causalities from this community. (Muslims in Indian Cities, P. 316).
Annual income of religious minorities in Bangalore in % (1994)
Community Below Rs. 10,000 Above Rs. 10,000 Below Poverty Line
(per annum) (per annum) (less than Rs.6000)
All Minorities 49.02 50.98 33.76
Muslims 52.85 47.15 36.33
SC Converted Christians 46.99 53.01 31.91
Parsis 25.68 74.32 17.57
Sikhs 27.67 72.33 21.33
(Source: Report of the High Power Committee on Socio-economic and Educational Survey -1994 of Religious minorities in Karnataka. (cited in ‘Muslims in Indian cities by Gayer and Jaffrelot, P. 293)
The survey report indicates Muslims are most backward among all minority communities, in spite of the fact that once they were above all.
Literacy survey also shows that Muslims have the lowest rate with 81.3% and Christians with 93.7% and Hindus with 90%. In Ahmedabad, in judiciary Muslim representation is only 3%.
In all the states of India Muslims’ situation is deplorable. Gayer and Jaffrelot states: “A survey conducted among 6220 Muslim households in Delhi found that 87.5% of them had a monthly income of less than Rs. 7000, with a majority of households heads being manual workers (90.40%), often self-employed (58.71%).
As the rulers of the country Muslims should have been the richest and most influential people of India. However, the situation of Muslims is contrary to the natural development due to the illegal involvement of anti-social elements in administrative affairs. The transformation of Muslim community from the masters of India to a ‘minority’ has been pointed out in ‘The guide to uplift minorities’ published by Jamaat-e-Islami Hind. It states: “Before partition of the country, Indian Muslims were enjoying a respectable position in the country with 41% literacy (quite ahead of others), 25% presence in the government jobs, 9% presence in military, a good number of Muslims in national stature and so on. After partition, the literary rate drastically came down to 9% according to 1951 census, they were removed from white collar jobs and military (P.8)
After independence, many Muslim landlords lost their property, not to speak of properties of Nawabs, Sultans and rulers including the Nizam of Hyderabad, the then richest person in the world. The properties of Muslims who migrated to Pakistan were also occupied by extremists.
In all fields Muslims are marginalised, and do not get proper treatment at the administrative level. Pralay Kunayo writes: “Orissa is the worst place for Muslims. Muslims have negligent presence in formal sector jobs. (Muslims in Indian Cities, P. 249). She reveals that while backward classes are considered for benefits, Muslims are not included in the backward category.
COMMUNAL VIOLENCE AND ITS EFFECT ON MUSLIMS OF INDIA
In 1941, Delhi’s Muslim population was 33.22%. But, in 1951, it came down to 5.71%. In 2001, Muslim population was 11.70%.
In the whole India, Muslim condition in general is deplorable and pitiable due to anti-Muslim attitude of authorities. This is evident when Gayer writes: “The worst episode of mass communal violence ever witnessed by the city occurred in September 1947, when 10,000 to 20,000 Muslims were killed by Hindu [read Hindutva] mobs with the support of Rashtriya Swayam Sewak Sangh (RSS) and sometimes with the complicity of the police and army. Historical accounts also suggest that approximately 44,000 Muslim houses were occupied by Non-Muslims in the aftermath of partition, while scores of Muslim shrines and graveyards across the country were demolished by angry mobs and later on by unscrupulous entrepreneurs and officials of the public works department. (Muslims in Indian cities, P. 219). This is not an exclusive situation in Delhi, but a blueprint of the situation in whole India.
Jaffrelot writes: “The 1969 riot was the most deadly unleashing of Hindu-Muslim violence since partition. Unofficially, 2000 Muslims were killed and 1074 injured. Over 48,000 lost their houses, and property worth 42 million Rupees was destroyed in Ahmedabad alone, including 32 million belong to Muslims”(Muslims in Indian Cities, P. 60). He also gives a picture of communal riots in Gujarat, and says: “Muslims did not get any compensation declared by the government. “In 2003, all the 240-odd persons detained under POTA in Gujarat were Muslims,” Jaffrelot adds.
After pre-planned riots Hindutva terrorists put blame on Muslims for the cause. This lie is revealed by Jaffrelot when he writes: “As usual, the violent action of the Hindus is presented as purely defensive. But the District Collector himself declared that riots and attempted arson were preplanned in the least two localities, Govindapura (in the BHEL area) and Piplani” (Muslims in Indian Cities, P. 172). The BJP government showed little urgency in containing the rioting or caring for the victims (Op. cit, P.173)
The Hindutva communalists create riots and scatter Muslims from the city life so that the latter do not concentrate in one place. Moreover, since they lose their wealth, they are driven to poverty, and, consequently, slums are formed. The Muslims who live in slums (Bombay, Delhi, Kolkata, etc.) once had a normal and peaceful life. The Muslim community had major representation among all the communities and before Independence they had the highest per capita income.
The loss of lives and property due to communal riots in Shivaji Nagar during December 1992
Hindu Muslims Others Total
Number of persons killed 6 44 Nil 50 _
Establishments subjected
to damage and looting 665 1006 2 1673
Arrests 11 129 Nil 140
Despite Hindutva extremists’ criminal acts, the authorities arrested innocent Muslims who defended their onslaught.
(Sri Krishna Commission Report (1998)
In most cases, the arrested Hindutva extremists who form only a negligible percentage of the actual criminals would be freed after few days; ‘there is no proof presented against them’.
For statistics regarding communal violence in post-Independence India (1950-2009) see ‘Muslims in Indian Cities (Pp. 327-328) ed. By Laurent Gayer and Christophe Jaffrelot, Harper-Collins Publication, 2012).
City population of Muslims also declined after communal riots.
Population status in Hyderabad
1951 1981
Muslims 69.15% 61.33%
Hindus 25.67% 37.98%
Other Hindus 20.60% 36.32%
(Cited in ‘Muslims in Indian cities,P.196 from official records of Andhra Pradesh)
INEFFICIENCY OF AUTHORITIES
Realising the inefficiency of the authorities to implement provisions to protect the minorities, Jamaat-e-Islami Hind has taken the responsibility of uplifting minorities (including weaker sections of non-Muslims). In The Guide to Uplift Minorities (2008), the authorities have revealed the intention to protect persecuted people. The book says: “The situation of Indian Muslims oscillates between ‘pampering’ and ‘persecution’. On the one hand if the government wished to redress their situation to some extent, generally for the vested interest of the ruling parties, the action is termed as ‘appeasement’, whereas the stock of situation makes it clear that the condition of the community is becoming worse day by day and it is going down even compared to the scheduled castes, which have traditionally been considered the most deprived segment of Indian society” (P.7). The condition of Muslims was better during the time of British rule than in the present.
The backward situation of Muslims in employment and education is due to the discriminative policy of the authorities, as findings of survey indicate.
SOLUTION
The Central Government as well as State Governments should take initiative to implement recommendations of Sachar Committee and Misra Commission. Srikrishna Commission report should be considered for better treatment of Muslims and arrests of real culprits of communal riots should be ensured. Misra Commission report recommended that at least 15% of seats in all educational institutions should be earmarked for the minorities, including 10% for Muslims. Similarly, the Commission also recommended that 15% odd posts in all cadres and grades under the central and state governments should be earmarked for minorities, including 10% for the Muslims. The Constitution of India also stresses the need to uplift the minorities.
Gayer points out: “Dalits and Adivasis may be victims of similar discrimination, but reservations have a massive compensatory effect and because of job reservations, ‘there is a strong incentive for parents to educate their children.” (Muslims in Indian Cities, P. 316)