'Non-Indian' minorities
By J Sri Raman
30 April, 2003
It is the premise of the "parivar" politics that Hindus and others
who can be assimilated into the Hindu fold are the primary citizens. The rest are relegated to the status of non-Indians
Demography and demonology are different subjects. But not for LK Advani, it seems. They are nearly synonymous for the politician occupying the country's second highest post.
At a public function in New Delhi on April 20, India's deputy prime
minister declared that "religious demography" was of "paramount
importance" for the "integrity of our borders" and "peace, harmony and public order within the country". Elaborating this point he said, "Politicians should not shy away from (the issue of) demographic changes in India such as in the North-East." The region is of particular significance for the "parivar" because of the large number of Christians and its proximity to Bangladesh.
He could not have been unaware that "official" status would be
attributed to his statement. He was attending the launch of a book
"Religious Demography in India" by A.P. Joshi, M.D. Srinivas and J.K. Bajaj. The book has been published by the state-funded Indian Council of Social Sciences Research along with the Centre for Policy Studies.Advani and the other speakers on the occasion noted that the book made a distinction between "Indian" and "non-Indian" religions. It talked of "Indian Religionists" as a category that included Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists and Jains. Muslims and Christians, obviously, were the "Non-Indian Religionists".
This is "Hindutva" at its most horrendous. It is the premise of the
"parivar" politics that Hindus and others who can be assimilated into the Hindu fold are primary citizens. The rest are relegated to the status of non-Indians and should be given second-class citizenship.
This hate-filled fascism treats all Indians who believe in a broader
sense of national identity as enemies. But Advani and others deny that this diabolical discrimination is part of their politics. But
the deputy prime minister has now upheld the same as the dictate of external security and internal order.
Advani's observations have elicited practically no political reaction and no editorial comment. The educated middle class, which has played no mean role in the promotion of communal fascism by its silent compliance, is again tacitly encouraging the "parivar".It is strange, but true that no one, not even any one in the media, criticised the inanities of this "scholarship" on demography. No one has asked why Buddhist-majority nations, from Myanmar to Japan through Sri Lanka and Thailand, do not feel direly threatened by their religious demography. Or why non-Arab Islamic nations, including our neighbour, do not feel endangered.
There is nothing startlingly new, of course, about this bogey of
religious demography raised by the Bharatiya Janata Party and the rest of the "parivar". They have always talked of the fear of being "swamped" by Muslim and other minority populations which are said to be growing unchecked. They conveniently ignore that the Muslims have remained a minority despite centuries of Muslim rule and that Christians form only about two per cent of the population despite British colonial rule.
The "parivar" has frequently resorted to population-centred
propaganda. This is the argument they used to press for a uniform civil code (put on the "back burner" by the BJP once it joined the National Democratic Alliance). They allege that Muslim personal law allows the country's biggest minority to practise polygamy and this increases the community's population disproportionately. It was the demographic bogey, and not the banner of democracy that the communalists raised against the coercive family-planning drive under Indira Gandhi in the 1970s. It was the spectre of "swamping" that Narendra Modi and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad raised in Gujarat to promote a virulent anti-minority pogrom.The North-East is also a case in point. The region provides the "parivar" an opportunity to direct demography-centred communalism against Christian missionaries as well as impoverished refugees from Bangladesh. Both are dubbed as
dangerous "infiltrators".There is nothing new about this line of argument. However, this is the first time it has received official approval at such a high level
since the "parivar" captured power at the centre. Even if Advani were not occupying his present office, it would be legitimate to raise alarm over the launch of a campaign of this kind. He was, after all, the inventor of the once election-winning Ayodhya issue and the one who coined the phrase "pseudo-secularism" to describe any one and every force opposed to majoritarian communalism. With India's general election due in 2004, "religious demography" may assist the "parivar" move a step closer to unshared power in New Delhi.
(The writer is a journalist and peace activist based in Chennai, India)