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TITLE: Minorities:-A Litmus Test For The Functioning Of Any Democracy

Publications, Research paper

Minorities:-A Litmus Test For The Functioning Of Any Democracy

ABSTRACT: 

The status of minorities in any democratic country indicates the soundness of democracy in such country. Minorities play a vital role for the preservation of democracy, for, a nation can be called democratic only when it provides its minority population with equal rights and opportunities. Any Nation which proclaims the title of ‘Democracy’ must regard minorities not just as integral part but in par with majority population in that country, and not doing so shall not authorize it to proclaim itself as democratic one. People’s participation, Independence of judiciary, Freedom of thought and expression and so forth are the pillars of democracy. Therefore removing any one pillar could affect the edifice of democracy in an unimaginable manner. This work, however, does not intend to advocate on behalf of minority appeasement in any manner. The main purpose of this research work is to signify the need for ‘minority protection’ for the prosperous growth of any Nation. Our focus shall not only be on India, but various countries and their relationships with their respective minorities. We shall also deal with a comparative analysis of the position of minorities in various countries. As the saying goes “The one pervading evil of democracy is the Tyranny of the majority”, we truly find some countries where the majority functions as a Tyrant while hiding behind the veil of democracy. This eventually leads to political instability, not only hindering the harmonious and peaceful growth of the majority but the nation as a whole.

KEYWORDS:

MinoritiesDemocracyMajorityNationIndian Constitution
  • Principles of Natural Justice

INTRODUCTION:

All countries in the world have minority population. According to Webster’s dictionary the word minority was first used in 15th century, to mean ‘The smaller in number of two groups constituting a whole’. Soon after hearing the word minority, one often takes it only in the context of ‘religious minority’. A group of people can be declared as minority not just on grounds of religion, but also on language, caste, ethnicity and culture. The concept of protection of minority rights and interests also finds its place in the ‘Principles of Fairness, of Natural Justice’. Simultaneously, the maxim “Audi Alteram Partem” which literally means ‘Hear the other side’ implies the unavoidable participation of minorities in those matters which affect them. It also signals that the tyranny of the majority is not to be imposed on minority. The Indian Constitution immensely strives to protect all kinds of minorities in India. Enormous efforts were made by the members of the constituent assembly to prevent India from sliding into the absolutism of Majority. Thus, this research paper aims to shed some light on the issue of Minority Rights by tracing the aforementioned efforts.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:

This research work is based on gathering information by using secondary sources of research. This research adopts Doctrinal methodology involving a deeper analysis of various legal texts, perspectives and doctrines. The sources of information used in this work are: Books, Journals, Legal Articles, websites and Case laws. Comparative and Historical methodologies have also been considered for a complete understanding of the topic.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE:

The International law has made various efforts, though not efficient to safeguard minority rights and interests by way of certain declarations. The United Nations Minorities Declaration safeguards the rights of persons belonging to national, religious and linguistic minorities. This research paper aims to shed some light on the words of the former Chinese Minister of Finance “The Minority Yields to Majority”. The aforementioned saying must be taken seriously and should be worked upon to prevent any sort of black outs in democracy. Though the issue of minority rights seems to be outdated in the era of rapid modernization, one must never overlook the destruction which results as a consequence of depriving people of their rights, because, ‘Each Time History Repeats Itself, The Price Goes Up’.

METHOD:

  • MINORITY RIGHTS UNDER INTERNATIONAL LAW

The International law, as aforesaid has taken some efforts, though not effective, for the protection of minorities’ rights and interests. In the year 1948 the General Assembly declared that the UN could not blind itself about the issue of minority persecution in various countries across the Globe. Consequently, it adopted a declaration by consensus in the year 1992, named “United Nations Minorities Declaration”. This declaration focused on the protection and promotion of the rights of different kinds of minorities. Article 27 of International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights was the main factor which contributed to the adoption of this declaration. According to it “In those states in which ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities exist, persons belonging to such minorities shall not be denied the rights, in community with the other members of their group, to enjoy their own culture, to profess and practice their own religion, or to use their own language”.  Thus Article 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights was the stepping stone towards the adoption of United Nations Minorities Declaration. Every nation consists of minority population. According to United Nations Guide for Minorities around 10-20% of the world’s population belongs to minorities. This means between 600 million to 1.2 billion people fall in the category of minority protection, across the globe. The aforementioned article is said to have provided for the most widely accepted and legally binding measures on minorities. The declaration includes a list of rights, granted to persons belonging to minority communities:

  1. The Right to enjoy their own culture.
  2. The Right to profess and practice their own religion.
  3. The Right to use their own language.

The Annual Ipsos Equality Index report reveals the reality of unfair treatment of various ethnic minorities in different countries. On average across the 30 countries which were a part of study, 1 in 5 (21%) agree that ethnic minorities experience unequal and unfair treatment in their country. Countries such as Indonesia which have higher degree of ethnic diversity and US, South Africa reported higher levels of concern about the issue of unfair treatment. 

  • Recent Instances Of Minorities’ Rights Violations In South- Asian Countries:
  • Srilanka

The Minority politics is facing a severe crisis in Srilanka. Representatives elected from minority groups explain that majoritarian nationalism has diluted their status and existence in the country. Neverthless, majority of ethnic conflicts and Tamil militancy arose as a result of such majoritarian nationalism, which led to a three-decade civil war in the country from 1983 to 2009. According to the report of Minorities Rights Groups the extremist Sinhala- Buddhist nationalism arose with the governments particularly under the presidencies of Mahinda Rajapaksa(2005- 2015) and Gotabaya Rajapaksa(2019-2022). However, they lost their integrity because of their policies of tyranny and oppression. The main political tactics of these leaders involved troubling minorities by restricting their political representatives from working for the welfare of their communities and driving a wedge among various minority parties. Various ethnic minority parties have been destroyed and divided into numerous factions, because of the ‘majoritarian tyranny’, of which we talked about in the previous sections of this research paper. Furthermore, as a consequence of being suppressed by the majoritarian absolutism of the party, the ethnic minority parties shifted  their alliance in a haphazard manner which led to large scale corruption and a further collapse of Srilankan politics. Thus Srilanka serves as good example on the repercussions of Minority rights violations.

  • Bangladesh

The Indian Ministry of External Affairs stated that there is systematic persecution of Hindu Minorities under the government led by Prof. Mohammed Yunus. Sorrowfully, persecution of ethnic and religious minorities is still going on in Bangladesh. According to the latest annual report of the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council (BHBCUC) the country witnessed some 1045 cases of Human Rights violations against minorities. According to it 70-75% of violence and persecution was because of land grabbing under the influence of political parties. Having mentioned the above information, the persecution of minorities has costed Bangladesh a great deal of Political and Economic crises, which is, nevertheless, a sure outcome of any such act of violence.

  • Pakistan

Pakistan, undoubtedly, is no behind in persecution of minorities. Recently, Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khwaja Asif acknowledged that there was targeted and systematic violence faced by minorities in the name of religion, in Pakistan. There isn’t just religious intolerance which can be seen, but also the sectarian intolerance against shias and other sects of same religion in Pakistan. Mr. Asif, during a session of Pakistan’s National assembly is quoted as saying “everyday minorities are being killed… I want to address the issue of minority safety, but the opposition is blocking my efforts. Pakistan is facing global harassment. Even smaller muslim sects are not safe in Pakistan, which is a disgraceful situation.” Forced conversions, abductions, murders and assaults on religious sites of Hindus, Sikhs and other minorities are found to be the most common forms of mischiefs and crimes against minorities according to Human Rights Commission Of Pakistan and Human Rights Watch Reports. The All Party Parliamentary group on Freedom of Religion or Belief organized a session at the UK Parliament’s committee to expose the ongoing silent religious persecution of minorities in Pakistan. This session demanded an urgent attention from the international community for the condemnation of the same.

  • Minorities under Indian Constitution 

The evolution of minority rights in India can be traced back from the colonial times. Minority rights refer to those rights which are granted to individuals belonging to a minority community. Minority rights are very essential to protect minorities in a country. For the survival of any democracy, there must be minority rights in such democratic country. Thus, the main purpose of minority rights is to safeguard minorities in a narrow sense and Nation in a broader sense. Indian Constitution provides various rights to minorities in India. It also guarantees some basic fundamental rights to all its citizens without discriminating against anyone on any grounds. Part III of the constitution deals with these rights such as, Article 14, 15, 16, 25, 28, 29 & 30

  • Article 14 directs that the State shall not deny to any person equality before law or equal protection of laws within the territory of India.
  • Article 15 Prohibits discrimination on ground of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth.
  • Article 16 provides equality of opportunity in matters of public employment.
  • Article 25 provides freedom of conscience and free profession, practice and propagation of religion.
  • Article 29 specifically deals with protection of interests of minorities.
  • Article 30 enumerates the rights of minorities to establish and administer educational institutions.

As mentioned above the Indian constitution has not left any inconsistencies in these articles for the protection of minorities in India. The core aspects of minority rights are mentioned in Articles 14-15 and 29-30. A detailed instruction is further provided in the latter Articles which prima facie deals with the subject of minority rights. Although the word minority is found in the marginal note to article 29, it cannot be seen in the text. In original proposal of the advisory committee of constituent assembly, the word ‘minorities’ was used instead of the phrase ‘section of citizens’. The original proposal was read as ‘Minorities in every unit shall be protected in respect of their language, script and culture, and no laws or regulations may be enacted that may operate oppressively or prejudicially in this respect. This replacing of words was mainly done to use ‘minority’ in a wide sense. All these struggles indicate how precautious the framers of our constitution were with regard to minority rights. In this context I find it appropriate to quote Dr. B. R Ambedkar “Unfortunately, for the minorities in India, Indian nationalism has developed a new doctrine which may be called the divine right of the majority to rule the minorities to the wishes of the majority. Any claim for the sharing of power by the minority is called communalism while the monopolizing of the whole power by the majority is called nationalism.” Further Baba Saheb also emphasized that Democracy is a form and method of government where revolutionary changes are brought without bloodshed. Further Article 350 A of the Indian Constitution directs that every state and local authority within the state should provide adequate facilities for instruction in the mother tongue at the primary level of education to linguistic minority groups. Article 350B makes it mandatory to appoint a special officer for linguistic minorities by President. Thus, It was indeed the hard work and excellent wisdom of the framers of our constitution that keeps the democracy still alive in India, even after many attempts of throttling it.

The National Commission for Minorities protects the constitutional rights of minorities in India. It also acts as an observer over the violation of minority rights in India. The NCM is a statutory body which was established under the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992. Previously five religious communities were recognized as minority communities by the Union government, viz. Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Zoroastrians (Parsis). But later by the notification dates 27th January 2014, Jains were also notified as another minority community. Similarly, various state governments constituted State Minorities Commissions in their respective states. Any person who is aggrieved and belongs to the aforementioned communities is entitled to approach the state minorities’ commission for redressal of their grievances. Minorities’ rights are as integral part of democracy as the democracy itself. They are a part of the basic structure of the constitution, and cannot be tampered with as long as the constitution survives. According to Dr. B. R Ambedkar ‘minority’ didn’t just mean community which is small in number, but a community which is oppressed, or denied its rights.

  • Role Of Indian Judiciary:

The Indian Judiciary plays a very important role in protecting and preserving the rights and interests of minorities in India. It safeguards them from the despotism of the Majority community. As stated above, the fundamental rights including the rights of minorities are part of the basic structure of the Constitution and can neither be abrogated nor amended by the Parliament, was held in the case of Kesavananda Bharati vs. State Of Kerala (1973). Further in the case of Minerva Mills vs. Union Of India, the Supreme Court upheld that Fundamental rights are a part of the basic structure of the constitution and the Parliament can never be done away with it. Further, in the case of T. M. A Pai Foundation vs. State of Karnataka (2002), an emphasis was laid on the right of minority educational institutions to administer their institutions, however it was also made clear that the right to administer doesnot include the right to maladminister. 

  • Instances Of Minority Rights Violation In India:

There are numerous instances of basic human rights violations of minorities, let alone the fundamental rights, in India. The 1948 communal riots after partition, the 1984 Anti-Sikh riots in Delhi, the 2002 riots in Gujarat, various incidents of Mob Lynching, the recent Manipur violence are only some of the examples from a big list of occurrences. The major issues faced by the religious minorities in India are discrimination, violence, forced conversions, harassment and intimidation. All these incidents of violence fall under the scope of the term ‘Hate Crimes’. Undoubtedly, there have been many instances of hate crimes against minorities in India, and overlooking those crimes, by failure to take insights from them shall not only be a grave injustice to Constitutional principles but the entire Humanity as one race.“The BJP government’s discriminatory and divisive policies have led to increased violence against minorities, creating a pervasive environment of fear and chilling effect on government critics”, said the deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. The purpose behind quoting this is not the defamation of any political party, but to shed some light on the contribution of the current government in Hate crimes in India. All the above mentioned instances have not just affected the victims of crime, but have subjected our country to ridicule, and its citizens to contempt in the eyes of International community. Further, the recent violence between the two ethnic communities viz. the majority Meitei and the minority Kuki Zo communities signaled the grave administrative failure, not just of that particular state of Manipur, but the entire Nation as one community.

SUGGESTIONS AND CONCLUSIONS

The aim of this discourse is to highlight the importance of protection of minority rights. Providing minorities equal rights with those of majorities, and making them fair participants in the administration and functioning of a democracy makes a country more stable, inclusive and realistically democratic. We have seen many countries playing the card of democracy without even acting upon its basic principles in their political and administrative systems. The mention of South – Asian countries doesn’t mean that the unmentioned ones are infallible. There are several incidents of violation of not just minority rights, but the very human rights itself, generally in other countries and particularly the western countries as well who regard themselves as the Ombudsmen of the world peace and harmony. The west in its usual acts of condemnation of non-western countries often turns blind eye to its own mistakes and blunders. However, elaborating on it would make this discourse even lengthier and exhaustive. Thus, I chose not to do so. Different occurrences of Hate Crimes in India were also discussed with the view of signifying the impact it has on the status of India in the global community. Before concluding I would like to quote Prof. Faizan Mustafa in this context, “achieving Viksit Bharat, as envisioned by our Prime Minister, would be impossible if minorities were left behind”. Lastly, this research paper attempts to create a sort of consciousness in the minds of readers about the gravity of minority rights, and while doing so hopes for the peaceful co-existence of all the communities across the Globe.

Name: Sania Bareera

College Name: Osmania University College Of Law.