Prophet of Secular minorytism, Siddaramaiah, has shown us Hindus the light. By making Lingayats a minority religion he has told us that the best way to save ourselves from vagaries of politicians and excesses under Article 30 and 93rd Amendment of Constitution on RTE is to become a minority.
Though, this began to happen for some years under the liberal guidance of secular Congress, this incident has opened the floodgates of opportunities for all the sects and sampradayas or faiths to claim minority status to enjoy the freedom of running their schools and temples under protection of Article 30 that gives special rights to minorities. 1000s of schools are getting closed due to 93rd amendment that has deprived the deprived classes from utilizing good quality educational institutions of minorities, especially Christian Church supported excellent institutions with over a century of experience behind them. These closures are being called ‘amalgamation’ by BJP apologists in BJP ruled states due to shortage of funds and choking of funds from the governments due to them.
Some days back my friend advocate Rajesh Gehani had suggested that Hindus are not a majority community anymore and they should petition for being named a minority. I had let it pass as this idea seemed outlandish.
Sikhs, Jains and Buddha followers were earlier included as part of Hindu society under the Constitution created in 1950 by venerable Dr. Ambedkar as a simple solution to define who is a minority. To enjoy special rights to run their institutions and enjoy state protection (not interference) Jains, Buddhists and Sikhs petitioned and got minority status; even though all the members of this community were not in favour. Two things made the opponents of such status quiet. Fear of being shouted down by co-religionists and advantage they gained due to Article 30 and 93rd amendment that allowed them freedom to run their institutions. These religions had a distinct flavour and had branched out of the mainstream Vedic dharma from where most of the sects and religions born out of Bharat have gained inspiration.
Lingayats are, however, a part of mainstream Sanaatan Dharma or Hindu dharma, worshipping Bhagwan Shiv and following typical Hindu practices. There are 1000s of such sects in India today. A friend on SM told me, Gokul-Brij belt itself has 8-10 sampradayas that can easily fit into newly formed idea of creating new religion by politicians and government. Many of my readers would belong to different sects, but never thought of demanding minority status. Now they know. So, I expect 1000s of such sampradayas and sects to demand separate minority religion status. If that happens, what is left of the larger body of Hindus like me who don’t follow any particular sect? How many of such Hindus would be there? Probably, lesser than 14-16% Muslims in India. Even Christians, according to the pseudo-Human Rights activist and a church agent John Dayal are nearly nine per cent.
It will be such a happy plural society with Muslims being the biggest population followed by smaller sects, Christians, various India born sampradayas and rest of Hindus - all enjoying special protection from the state and no majority trying to dominate or ‘frighten’ other minorities.
Congress, inspired by Sonia and Siddaramaiah, can extend his logic further and declare Shias, Sunnis, Ahmedias, Qadians and other minor 68 more sects of Islam as separate faiths as they don’t even visit each other’s mosques. In fact, antipathy is so strong that Sunnis treat others as non-Muslims thus others qualify fully to be separate minority religion. Similarly, it could divide Christian into 13-14 Churches beginning from Catholics and Protestants. They too have hardcore divisions and don’t visit each other’s churches. Oh, what a liberator, Siddaramaiah has turned out to be!
No more repressive control of powerful sects within a faith. He has proven that Constitution can be manipulated and shredded by paying lip service to Dr. Ambedkar, whom incidentally – Congress never allowed to win any election – and go ahead and create new religions. Who needs Saints and Sadhus to create new sects and sampradayas? He has also achieved a new historic moment, dividing Hindus within and making them fight each other. Divide and rule has been redefined. Kudos to Sonia Gandhi for choosing such a wonderful divisive leader.
Another achievement of Congress is: It has made the distinction between Hindu culture, Hindu dharma and Hindu as a religion so stark. It explained at one stroke what Sanghis were trying to explain for decades. People used to get confused between Hindu dharma and Hindu religion. Now they know that any different way of worship is a different religion. So, there is no Hindu religion but there are 1000s of religions under Hindu dharma. Best thing for Congress is that today they may feel they are only doing it for protection of Article 30. But in a generation or two they will forget their Hindu roots. And then Sonia Gandhi’s Christian Missionary friends can have great open harvesting of souls.
With this, I am finally convinced that there is no majority in India. Minority-Majority argument is infructuous. Minority-Majority debate is dead. We are all minorities, living in a land called India. There is no Bharat, there is no unifying Hindu culture, history and heritage. Everything is up for division. Shivaji is a Maratha leader, not a Hindu king. Rana Pratap is a Rajput king not a Hindu who fought Mughal tyranny. Guru Gobind Singh is a Sikh warrior not a protector of Hindu dharma.
Arya Samaj is not a reformist movement of Hindus but can claim to be a separate religion. Ram Krishna Mission had failed to be tagged as minority. They can now try with renewed vigour. I am sure that all the multitude of minorities under Hindu umbrellas has got the message. All these sects and organizations can approach Congress to relieve them of deprivation of basic rights of managing their own affairs under Article 30 and RTE with its great 93rd amendment.
BJP spokespersons can keep shouting in TV studios, while game and rules have been set with Seculars while they dithered, trying hard to be ‘good secular boys’.
BJP can win an election or two. But, future belongs to ‘minorities’. Hail the great Congress for achieving what Nehru began in 1947 by agreeing to divide India on basis of religion; then introduce protection to minorities in the guise of Secularism, a pseudonym for controlling Hindu institutions and exploiting its inherent goodness of ‘sarva panth samabhav’.
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