A single-judge bench of the Allahabad High Court has ruled that, based on their “population and strength”, Muslims are not a minority in Uttar Pradesh. “Muslims [therefore] should not be entitled to benefits accruing on that account,” Justice S.N. Srivasatava has said.
According to the 2001 Census, Muslims account for 13.1 per cent of India’s population. Muslims comprise 67 per cent of the population in Jammu & Kashmir. In Assam, they form 31 per cent of the population; in West Bengal 25.2 per cent; in Kerala 24.7 per cent; and in Uttar Pradesh 18.5 per cent.
Questions: On purely numerical ground, do Muslims form a minority? Is numerical strength the right criterion to judge the status of a community? Or should we see how “politically deprived, educationally backward, economically poor, socially vilified” they are? Can the judgement help people like Narendra Modi‘s (“ham paanch, hamare pachchis“) to rake up the old bogey of the threat to “Hindu character”?
Yes Sir, but that criterion holds good for every community, isn’t it? why only to Muslims. No one in this country has DENIED whatever is rightful to ANY other citizen of this country. If they have a complex none can help. Have not Christians educated themselves, forget that they have even educated people from other communities like me (A Convent educated).
Please specify criterion for being a Majority and Minority and for heaven sake have the same scale for every and ALL communities.
‘politically deprived, educationally backward, economically poor, socially vilified’ holds good only for muslims????!!!! Shocking… Hail neo-secularism!!!..hail KP!!!!
The Muslims are to blame for much of the ills that plague their community — their Medieval mindset and practices are examples that spring to mind. Their treatment at the hands of the Hindutva brigade who view them as the suspicious ‘other’ hasn’t helped matters either.
I live in a Muslim dominated locality and was happy to hear a few children singing “Jana Gana Mana” one afternoon some days ago. Within no time an elderly man yelled at them for singing the national anthem and chased them away to their respective homes.
What is one to make of this when impressionable minds are ingrained with such thoughts? Can you imagine an American refusing to sing the Star Spangled Banner?
What is the criterion? Is it Religion based or Caste Based? Do you consider all religions emanating from India as distinguishable OR part of larger Hindu Diaspora ( Like Sikhism, Jainism, Veerashaivas, Buddhism etc.). It only looks like only imported Religions are calssified as Minority Religions .
The definition of minority, for the purposes of Indian politics should read as follows:
‘Any community, small enough to be targetted, but large enough to make a vote-bank, distinct enough to be villified, but not so alien that they can’t be wooed, and privileged enough to be mocked, but deprived enough to ‘fight’ for’
Doesn’t really matter what the Court thinks anyway.
Never stopped our ‘leaders’ from starting the fires of hate.
Sane, normal, ordinary Indians are a minority – and will soon be EXTINCT! What a country ! What a people!
Minority in numbers need not be a minority in reality. If minority groups coalesce politically, they form a government like the present UPA government, none of its members have a majority to form a government by themselves. A small armed group can easily tackle a huge unarmed crowd. Therefore, it is not always numbers. In states like Assam and Bengal, the Muslims can determine who will win an election. If you divide the Hindus into the 2000 castes that the Congress has divided, the Hindus will be a minority. Again, what is the chief charcteristic of a minority? Is it religion, caste, poverty, illiteracy? Whatever it is, caste and religion as the basis for any any decision is communalism of the worst kind. The BJP or the Muslim League may not be able to compete with this brand of communalism, widely known as secularism.