Speech by Shri Pranab Mukherjee, Minister of External Affairs at the Global Minorities Meet on 6th March, 2008 at MCR, PHA

My colleague Shri Vyalar Ravi, Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs,
Mr. Justice Ahmadi, Former Chief Justice of India
Mr. Justice Sachar, Former Chief Justice, High Court, Delhi
Mr. Navaid Hamid, Secretary, South Asian Council for Minorities
Excellencies, Distinguished Guests
Ladies & Gentlemen,

It is my privilege to be here this afternoon at this important Conference on Global Minorities being organized by the South Asian Council for Minorities.

The issue of minorities has been on the consciousness of the Indian state since its birth in 1947. In 1947, though partition of the country could not be avoided despite best efforts of Mahatma Gandhi and other leaders, the Indian state made a compact with secularism which is one of the basic tenets of our Constitution. The Indian society as we know it today is the culmination of centuries of assimilation of diverse peoples and ethnic groups. Indian society has been an inclusive and open one and if one looks closely at the pre-colonial India, the concept of minorities did not exist. I say this because of the very definition of what is a minority.

Minority feelings arise because of the self perception of a particular group who feel disadvantaged or feel discriminated against in relation to the perceived majority in the community. The nation state, based on law, created a situation where the experience of discrimination by a group, based on religious and other consideration, developed into a consciousness of being a minority. And when this group was able to convincingly make a case of discrimination then its claim for minority rights got strengthened. The political process and its concurrent exercise of power was thus the natural crucible in which minority status was formed.

As Prof. R. Pannikkar, the sociologist said “Indian society in the pre-colonial period had different religious groups, but they were neither culturally nor politically disadvantaged nor victimized. For in matters of patronage, discrimination on the basis of religion was not pursued by medieval governments, headed either by Hindu or Muslim rulers. Such a policy of non-discrimination was rooted in the social reality of commonly shared quotidian life experience anchored in mutual accommodation and respect. As a consequence, although different religious groups existed with different religious and cultural practices, there were no minorities”. The issue of minorities can thus be traced to the colonial period when the occupying powers played politics with the different ethnic and religious groups in India.

Excellencies, Ladies & gentlemen,

We are justifiably proud of the fact that India has an inclusive, open, multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, multi-lingual society marked by unparalleled pluralism. But we are also conscious of the fact that minorities and minority sentiments exist in India. And the framers of our Constitution, acutely aware of this sentiment, made considerable efforts to ensure that the rights of minorities in India are protected under the law.

India is home to almost all religions of the world and secularism is a fundamental tenet of the Indian Constitution and political system. All persons are equally entitled to freedom of conscience and the right to freely profess, practice and propagate religion. Citizens residing in India have the right to conserve their distinct language, script or culture. At the same time, India set up statutory systems to safeguard the rights of minorities and to ensure their welfare. In 1993, five religious communities viz. Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Zoroastrians (Parsis) were designated as minority communities. The Minorities Commission which was set up in 1978, became a statutory body the same year i.e in 1993 and was renamed as the National Commission for Minorities. To promote economic activities amongst the backward sections of these notified minorities, the National Minorities Development and Finance Corporation (NMDFC) was incorporated in 1994. This entity provides concessional finance for self-employment activities to eligible beneficiaries, belonging to the minority communities, having a family income below poverty line.

Our government has created a new Ministry of Minority Affairs in 2006 to ensure a more focused approach towards issues relating to the minorities and to facilitate the formulation of overall policy and planning, coordination, evaluation and review of the regulatory framework and development programmes for the benefit of the minority communities. The Prime Minister's New 15 Point Programme for the Welfare of Minorities was announced in June 2006. An important aim of the new programme is to ensure that the benefits of various Government schemes for the underprivileged reach the disadvantaged sections of the minority communities.

The objective of inclusive growth requires affirmative action towards socio-economic development of minorities. A High level committee under the chairmanship of Justice (Retd.) Rajindar Sachar was set up in March 2005 to prepare a comprehensive report on the socio, economic and educational status of the Muslim community of India. The Committee submitted its report in November, 2006. Decisions on the follow-up action on the recommendations of the Committee have been taken.

It has been the government’s policy to ensure that we embark on a course of action which would ensure the well-being of the minorities and remove their perception of discrimination and relative backwardness that they suffer. We have to be aware that some minority communities are being exhorted to resort to violent and militant means to express their feelings. In this regard, we have to guard against fundamentalist forces which thrive on the religious obscurantism and cultural backwardness of some minority communities. The state should, in no uncertain terms, make it clear that there would be no compromise with the fundamentalist forces and help reduce the influence of obscurantist forces. India will always remain a secular state despite the efforts of many to try and change this character. The rights of minorities can only be protected by a secular state which does not remain indifferent or hostile to minorities.

Distinguished participants,

As a government, we need to ensure equality, both in principle and in practice and to create conditions to enable the minority communities to achieve economic and cultural advancement. The role of civil society is also important as they have to be conscious of the rights of minorities in a democracy and evolve methods for defending them. Civil society has to be wary of the powerful propaganda being spread by religion centered populist forces. These forces tend to marginalize the minorities in public space and deny them civic opportunities as has happened in some states of India. This is a threat not just to the minorities but also to the very social fabric of India and its democratic traditions. The struggle for the rights of the minorities is not just a matter of social justice but also of the continuity of democracy and secular tendencies in India.

I have great pleasure in inaugurating this meet. I am also sure, the discussions will help all the stakeholders to move forward in appreciating the cross-cultural perspectives on minority issues which, particularly for a country like ours is of far reaching dimensions. I extend my deep appreciation to the participants and organizers who have come out to engage experts, scholars and administrators on this important societal issue.

Thank You.