Noted human rights defender John Dayal talks to India Tomorrow on the issue of minority rights in India. Here are the excerpts of the interview.
Q. In the present atmosphere do you think there is any significance of minorities’ rights in India?
A. Religious and ethnic minorities, which include Adivasis and Dalits, will not commit suicide. Nor will they be annihilated, even some extreme right-wing groups so desire on the pattern of Hitler’s Final Solution which their founding fathers so admired. In secular India founded on the basis of a secular Constitution and governed by the rule of law, the rights of minorities will always be paramount. People realize, even if sometimes they are afraid to articulate, that the security of minorities from all threats – physical, political or economic – is of importance for the security and integrity of the country itself, and absolutely integral to its economic development. In the situation of targeted hate which often leads to violence, the well-being of religious minorities such as Christians, Sikhs and Muslims – perhaps not in that order – is also essential for regional peace.
Q. What is the meaning of minority today in the present socio-political context?
A. Consistently since the early 1990s, certain political forces have sought to build up a narrative that the majority religious community is under threat from Muslims and Christians. While Muslims have been painted as aggressors and destroyers of Indian values over the centuries and with some strange loyalty to Pakistan, Christians are held as agents of western civilisation who are out to convert every Hindu in India to Christianity. These are highly motivated lies that are spread by every mode of traditional and modern communication systems, ranging from whispers at the time of elections and abusive barbs from political leaders, to the use of social media in spreading hate and mischief. Much hate has been directly traced to leaders and spokespersons of the party that rules India and is in power in several states.
Patently, this false and malicious thesis has to be demolished. The United Nations and several international agencies have directly indicted the Indian government and the ruling party’s agencies and political apparatus in the sustained hate campaign which shows its ugliest face during the political campaigns that are unleashed during the many national and state elections that take place in the country.
The world remembers the peaks of this hate and violence. The demolition of the Babri Masjid, the attempted genocide in Gujarat, and Kandhamal, the murder of Graham Stuart Staines and his two young sons. It is a very long list of visceral hate and cruel violence, often with the state machinery a mute witness, the police bigoted, the judiciary blind and the political leadership entirely complicit.
Q. On the eve of World Minorities Rights Day, what do you think are the challenges before minorities now?
A. The minorities have proved their loyalty during the freedom struggle and many times since then. They have contributed more than their share of labour, brains, and love in developing its infrastructure and economy, and they have shed their blood in the defence of the motherland. The need now is to be proud of this contribution and not allow any political or right-wing religious nationalistic agency to erode this or cast doubt on it. Never retreat on constitutional guarantees, and defend them with all your might against any pressure or aggression, without violence and using Gandhian principles. Also, of course, continue on the path of upgrading the knowledge base of the youth through higher education, professional training and entrepreneurship.
Q. How would you like to compare the rights of minorities during the BJP-led government with that of the UPA regime?
A. In many ways, the constitutional guarantees of religious minorities have been under threat soon after the Constitution itself was adopted and India declared a republic in 1950. The constitution had been the work of the brightest brains of the nation, who overcame their own religious identities to insist on rights and guarantees for religious minorities as well as for Dalits and Adivasis. But this was not fully palatable even to the right wing of the Congress party and they brought about amendments which effectively eroded the full strength of the constitutional protection. The Presidential Order of 1950 which effectively removed the umbrella of protection from Dalits who practiced Islam or Christianity, is one such example. The major political parties harboured within them rabid communal elements. This was evident not just in 1984’s anti-Sikh pogrom and the anti-Muslim violence but the promulgation of anti-conversion laws also. But during the congress regime, the judiciary and other pillars of the state still maintained a semblance of honest secular as envisaged in the constitution. The maintained equidistance from every religion which largely remained a matter of personal choice by a citizen.
Under the BJP regime, the state has totally succumbed to the Sangh’s agenda of establishing a Hindu Rashtra where Christians and Muslims can live only as second-class citizens. Everyone can see the total political marginalisation of these two communities, and their absence from higher echelons of the state.
Now the instruments of state, including police, the Enforcement Directorate and often the judiciary in the states, aids and abets the majoritarian forces. This is the major change. Even if the majoritarian forces are defeated in general elections, it may take more than one general to cleanse the system of these bigoted forces.
Q. Do you think existing laws are enough to safeguard minority rights?
A. The existing laws are not enough. To begin with, several bad laws have to go. Among them are the laws that discriminate against Christian and Muslim Dalits on the basis of their region, denying them benefits and security. The anti-conversion laws which have been weaponised by the BJP-run states as never before, also need to go immediately. We tried very hard under the UPA rule to bring about a comprehensive law against hate crimes and to ensure the safety and security of religious minorities. Such a law with provisions for help lines, early warning, training and retraining of police and judiciary to raise their sensitivity to matters of religious minorities, and command responsibility, needs to be made and operationalised.
The current regime with its slogans of national anti-conversion laws, uniform civil code and such political threats has no inclination to assure any security or economic uplift for Muslim and Christian communities as it continuously builds upon its majoritarian vote bank by raising various bogeys targeting religious minorities.
Q. Is there a double standard or systemic discrimination while dealing with the issues pertaining to human rights violations of minorities?
A. The duplicity of the NDA government if Mr Narendra Modi on matters of Muslims and Christians is unbelievable. The world has seen it in recent years. The bulldozer, the weaponised anti-conversion bills, and the open threats by central and state ministers, are mere tips of the iceberg. Books can be written on these issues. The supreme court can, if it wishes, easily puncture this bubble of self-righteousness of the union government and the governments of many major starts.
Q. What do you think should be the response of minorities against divisive narratives?
Non-violence is the only weapon with the religious minorities. Non-violence and the knowledge that the large chunk of the majority community is with them even if at present it is frightened into silence or a section of it has been misled. In addition, the minorities must not hesitate in moving the Supreme court and the high court’s so that they can use the full powers of the constitution in the defence of the people and against politically inspired polarisation. This will also help in the evolution of a spontaneous counter-narrative.
Q. Is anti-conversion law against religious freedom what would be its likely impact on Muslims and Christians?
A. These laws and Article 341 (iii) pervert the constitution by introducing religion as a criterion of benefits and protection by the law. They militate against the very premise of a secular state which is distinct from a theocratic regime.
