On the issue of minorities within India
The issue of minorities within an India that has declared its secularism since attaining independence on 15 August 1947 is evidently an issue of importance. It is necessary to begin by outlining the varied religious composition of the Indian Republic. This article will look in particular at the grievances of a Muslim community that makes up 13% of the total population vis-à-vis a country whose constitution enshrines equality of all before the law. This will also be the opportunity to mention the Sachar Committee Report of November 2006.  We will look at certain disturbing chapters from the recent history of India and the judicial response to these: the communalist carnage that targeted the Sikh community after the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on 31 October 1984; the terrible events in Gujarat that followed the Godhra drama of 27 February 200; and lastly the communalist incidents against the Christian community in the backdrop of assertive Hindu nationalists that seek if not to convince converts to return to the fold of ‘the true faith’ then at the very least to prevent any further conversions. It also seems important to briefly recall the case of Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir and the grievances felt by the Muslim community of this region vis-à-vis India, especially since the end of the 1980s.

There are, however, other groups, which, while not strictly speaking ‘minorities’, deserve attention by virtue of the discrimination to which they are subjected. There is the much-studied case of the Dalits, but also that of a forgotten community: the Pandits of the Kashmir Valley who took the path of exile at the start of 1990. The incapacity of the Indian Republic and the state of Jammu and Kashmir to grant its members a particular status illustrates the difficulty of applying terms to describe various ethno-religious minorities within a single country. The Pandits are a jati (race/lineage/tribe of men) of the priestly Brahmin caste, enjoying a position of considerable social, if not economic privilege. The Indian Constitution defines five religious minorities: Muslim, Sikh, Christian, Buddhist and Jain. The Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir makes no such religious categorisation. In addition, numerous provisions of the national Constitution do not apply in this state of the Indian federation; Article 370, notwithstanding the various amendments made over time, provides for a certain level of autonomy for Jammu and Kashmir. Moreover, the Pandit community could only claim minority status within the confines of the Kashmir Valley, rather than within Jammu and Kashmir state as a whole. We will look at the various policy proposals that have been put forward to pave the way for the return of the Pandits.

There remains the difficulty of formulating recommendations given the complexity of ethno-cultural groups in India, as well as the political forces present there. We will endeavour to do this with the help of the analysis made by the political scientist Ajay Gudavarthy (2014), ‘The secular sectarianism of feminists, Dalits, the Left and religious minorities has ghettoised communities and is leading to a political dead end.’

Reference
Gudavarthy, A. 2014, ‘Sectarianism of the secular brigade’, The Hindu, 20 November,
<http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/sectarianism-of-the-secular-brigade/article6615446.ece>, accessed 25 November 2014.