Opinion Faizan Mustafa writes: Nirmala Sitharaman is right and wrong — minorities are better off in India than in Pakistan, but that’s not enough
High fertility rates are indicative of educational, social and economic backwardness. But with literacy rates increasing among Muslims, there is a steep decline in the fertility rates of Muslims
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman with PIIE President Adam Posen at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, in Washington. (PTI) The Union Finance Minister’s response to a question from Adam Posen, president of the Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE), about the Western media’s negative perception of the situation of Indian Muslims is making waves in minority circles. Many are criticising the minister because they think that Muslims are being targeted under the current government. An objective assessment of her statement is necessary as there is always a grey area between black and white. The truth is in the middle.
Nirmala Sitharaman reportedly said that “India has the second-largest Muslim population in the world and that population is only growing in numbers. If there is a perception, or if there is in reality… their lives are difficult or made difficult with the support of the state, which is what is implied in most of these write-ups, I would ask, will this happen in India in the sense, will the Muslim population be growing than what it was in 1947?” She is certainly right in asserting that India is the second-largest Muslim country, after Indonesia. Indeed, Indian Muslims have more rights than minorities in any Muslim country, including Pakistan. With the collapse of its economy, Pakistan’s Muslims must be envying Indian Muslims today.
But is population growth the right parameter by which to judge a group’s status in the polity of the country? In fact, high fertility rates are indicative of educational, social and economic backwardness. Moreover, with literacy rates increasing among Muslims, there is a steep decline in their fertility rates. In any case, neither has the current government been in power since 1947, nor can any group’s population seriously dwindle in a short span of nine years or so unless there is genocide or large-scale migration. And there have not been disproportionately higher death rates among Muslims at any point unless there is a disease that affects a particular group.
The minister referred to Pakistan and rightly said that the condition of minorities is worsening in that country and their numbers are declining by the day. But then was not the massive migration of Hindus to India from today’s Pakistan the primary cause of the Hindu population declining from 14.6 per cent in the 1941 census to 1.6 per cent in the 1951 census? In today’s Bangladesh, Hindus were 28 per cent in 1941 and their number went down to 22 per cent in the 1951 census. It further declined in subsequent decades.
Pakistan is one of the worst examples of the abuse of minority rights. No one can disagree with the minister on the large-scale abuse of the regressive and draconian blasphemy law. She is also right in saying that although both India and Pakistan got independence on the same day, Pakistan in no time declared itself to be an Islamic theocracy. The fact is that we in India decided to be a modern, secular, liberal and progressive democracy. This decision has made us a leading world power and Pakistan a failed state. The minority rights sub-committee headed by Vallabhbhai Patel is to be credited for the minority rights under our Constitution. There is no doubt that the minister cannot be contradicted when she says that “Muslims in India are doing better than those in Pakistan.” But then perceptions do matter in today’s digital world where every incident of lynching, hate speech and violence is globally reported.
The BJP’s own consistent position has been “appeasement of none, justice for all”. It won the 2014 election on the slogan of “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas” and in 2019’s victory speech, the Prime Minister added the words “Sabka Vishwas”. Many liberals had predicted the decimation of Muslims when in 2019 there was not a single Muslim among the 303 BJP Lok Sabha MPs.
When cow vigilantism led to a few deaths, on August 5, 2016, the Prime Minister said that he felt enraged at such “anti-social elements” who indulged in crimes by the night and masqueraded as cow protectors by the day. Addressing the centenary function of Aligarh Muslim University, he described AMU as “Mini India.” Recently, he urged his party men to reach out to Pasmanda (backward), educated and professional Muslims without any expectation of votes.
The RSS chief too has been making positive statements about Muslims. On July 4, 2021, speaking at the Rashtriya Muslim Manch event on “Hindustani First, Hindustan First” and in a way acknowledging that many Muslims today indeed live under fear, Mohan Bhagwat urged Muslims not to get “trapped in the cycle of fear”, thinking that Islam is in danger in India. Condemning mob lynching, Bhagwat said that “these lynchings are against Hindutva” and those who indulge in them are not Hindus. Bhagwat reiterated that talk of Hindu-Muslim unity is misleading “as they are not different, but one.” In an interview with a Hindi daily, in another departure from the classical Hindutva position, the RSS chief asserted that the Constitution nowhere says that Hindus alone can live in India or that to live in India one has to accept the supremacy of Hindus. He also said that both Hindus and Muslims have the same DNA.
But why have such positive statements from the Prime Minister and RSS chief not percolated down the ranks? How is it that the hate mongers roam freely? Why are elections polarised? Recent communal violence in various states has strengthened the narrative the Finance Minister was trying to counter.
This author did not agree with Shashi Tharoor’s view that India may soon become a Hindu Pakistan. As proud citizens of India, Indian Muslims, have rights equal to other citizens. They did reject the Two Nation theory and preferred to stay back in India There is nothing common between India and Pakistan. Rather, we should compare ourselves with Scandinavian countries.
The writer is a constitutional law expert. Views are personal
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