Litmus test for democracy

The rights of the minorities constitute the core of democracy as highlighted by the modern democratic theory. In the not-too-distant past Roosevelt reminded us that ‘no democracy can long survive which does not accept as fundamental to its very existence the recognition of the rights of minorities’. Democracy as a form of government is founded on the principle of equality of all.

The famous declaration adopted by the UN General Assembly on the ‘Rights of Persons Belonging to National, or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities’ on December 18, 1992 is a clear recognition of the importance of minority rights. This date is celebrated as Minority Rights Day. Article 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights gives every individual the right to enjoy their own culture and to participate in cultural activities, associations etc.

Most of the leading democratic countries in the world recognise the rights of the minorities to protect and promote their minority identity. Mention may be made of Article 19 of the Australian Constitution acknowledging the absolute rights of the ethnic minorities to maintain and develop their ability and language. Similar provisions are incorporated in the Hungarian Act of 1868 and Swiss Confederation of 1874. The provisions of the peace treaties after the First World War made special mention of the status of the minorities.

India has a fairly old tradition of the minorities which began with Aryan civilization when the caste system was introduced. In the Manusmriti, mention was made about “a fundamental distinction between the king as the human agent and the law as the superhuman abstract order which leads to a theory of restrained rulership and a conception of fairness of treatment towards different types of subjects”.

Nationalists like Nehru echoed their concern for minorities. The realm of kingship has various obligations to and relations with the morally transcendent sphere of spirituality. Presently India is one of the democratic states in the world where almost every fifth person belongs to a notified religious minority community, namely, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists, Jains and Zoroastrians (Parsis) as notified by the National Commission on Minority

The Constitution of India has not defined what is minority but denotes minorities as religious and linguistic. The Motilal Nehru Report (1928) pleaded for protecting the minorities, but refrained from defining the expression. The Sapru Report (1945) also proposed, inter alia, a Minorities Commission but did not define minority.

The constitutional foundation of minorities in India lies in its diversity. Religious tolerance is the creed of Indian civilization. Christianity stepped into India with St. Thomas in the first century CE long before it received wide acceptance in Europe. India came to know about Judaism after the Jewish temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE and Jewish faced expulsion from their home land.

Religious minority issues in India have of late become a global concern. The Religious Freedom Report published by the US Department in 2023 expressed concern about the violent attacks on minority groups especially Muslims and Christians. A group of over 300 American Christian leaders drew the attention of the US State Department to put India in the watch list of the world’s list of the worst violators of religious freedom. Indian American Muslim Council joined the chorus arguing that the things worsened after the emergence of the BJP led Government for a third term in 2024. In India, the United Christian Forum articulated similar concern stating that an average of two Christians was attacked in 2023.

The Constituent Assembly set up an Advisory Committee under the chairmanship of Sardar Patel on the subject of Fundamental Rights including rights of minorities. Under this Committee there was a Sub-Committee headed by HC Mukherjee to recommend on how the rights of the minorities could be safeguarded. The makers of the Constitution provided for safeguards to minorities in Article 29-30. The Constitution of India provides three sets of rights to the minorities: (i) right to preserve their culture and language (ii) administer and manage minority institutions and (iii) provide religious education in an institution which is managed and aided by the minority communities.

The Indian Constitution, crafted with profound foresight by its visionary founders, establishes a comprehensive framework for minority protection, mirroring the ethos of a nation that celebrates its rich tapestry of diversity. But the Indian commitment to protecting the rights of the minorities is more than a constitutional obligation. The test of democracy does not lie in the mere inscription of provisions but through their rigorous implementation and steadfast adherence.

The Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019, initiated at the instance of the present government, permits that the Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians who have entered India illegally before 31 December 2014 can apply for citizenship if they can prove their origin from Muslim-majority Pakistan, Bangladesh or Afghanistan. This law seems to go against the constitutional principle of equality and international human rights. Human Rights Watchdog Amnesty India has mentioned about the denial of benefits to Tamils from Sri Lanka and immigrants from other countries like Bhutan and Nepal.

The passage of the Act resulted in huge countrywide violent protests. The COVID pandemic halted the process of implementation of the Act. The critics fear that the BJP led Government will seek to translate into action another plan embodied in the National Register of Citizens which aims to identify and deport immigrants in India without valid papers. There is an apprehension that the CAA and the NRC together could arm the government with powers to expel all those ‘illegal’ migrants and then allow Hindus, Parsis, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Christians to reenter while denying the same opportunity to Muslims. The attempt to implement this Act ignoring protests from the different quarters is viewed with alarm by bodies like Amnesty International

The growing political use of religion has complicated the matter. It began with deinstitutionalisation of the Congress party. The loss of Nehruvian consensus in the 1980s and 1990 fuelled the tendency. The secular political atmosphere of the country received a shock when Rajiv Gandhi opened the door of the Ajodhya, and surrendered himself to the Hindu fundamentalists. Presumably being nervous and bewildered he also tried to woo the Muslim Votes when he got the Muslim Women’s Bill passed.

There is a school of thought which believes that the promotion of Hindutva political ideology by the BJP and its outfit called Sangha Pariwar is leading to communalisation of the Indian state. This dangerous trend has caused ripples among the minorities and adversely affected the psyche of the minorities.

The protection of minority rights is integral to India’s identity as a pluralistic and democratic society. A survey of 30,000 Indians by Pew Research Centre fielded between late 2019 and early 2020 reveals how religious tolerance and segregation co-exist in Indian society. Obama in an address at New Delhi's Siri Fort auditorium on January 27, 2015, made a strong pitch for religious tolerance, cautioning that India will succeed so long as it is not splintered along the lines of religious faith.

India is currently the fastest-growing economy globally. It is the third-largest economy in purchasing power parity (PPP) terms. Its share in world GDP (based on PPP) is 7.86 per cent (IMF website). India aims to become a developed nation by 2047. It calls for social cohesion

Aijaz Ahmad cautioned that Indian communalism is totalising project of national hegemony. It can be countered only through the construction of an alternative national project encompassing all the levels of society

Our independent and powerful judiciary can facilitate this process by eschewing majoritarian biases as and when required. The Public Interest Litigation is a powerful tool as it enables the judiciary to uphold minority rights even in the absence of direct petitions.

Fr. John Felix Raj is the Vice Chancellor of St. Xavier’s University, Kolkata and Prabhat Kumar Datta is the Adjunct Professor of Political Science and Public Administration at Xavier Law School, St. Xavier’s University, Kolkata. Views expressed are personal