Author: Dina Nath Mishra
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: February 6, 2006
The following symptoms compel us to consider
if India is a "half sovereign" State? The All India Muslim Personal
Law Board (AIMPLB) sub-committee on Muslim reforms has demanded abolition
of Article 44 of the Indian Constitution, which recommends a uniform civil
code in the country.
It is non-enforceable directive principle
of the State Policy strategy. The SC has time and again requested the Government
of India to enact the law in this regard in the light of constitutional directive.
Nearly 13 per cent of Muslims are still governed by Muslim Personal Law and
majority of the population is governed by constitutional law.
Waqf Boards are the biggest landlords in urban
India even today. The properties under their control were originally confiscated
from Hindus during Muslim rule. These properties are beyond control of Indian
Laws. Recently Muslim Organisations have presented a Memorandum to the Prime
Minister suggesting that agricultural land under the control of Muslims should
be brought within the purview of Shariat. Articles 29 and 30 are tilted towards
Muslims at the cost of majority.
The UPA Government speeded up its old Muslim
appeasement policy, reservations for Muslims in the jobs and educational institutions,
special scholarships in higher studies including minority status for AMU and
50 per cent additional reservation for Muslims students.
Sovereignty as doctrine as developed in Europe
to advance the cause of sovereign State against the chains of the Church.
The concept of "half sovereign" State was first introduced by German
Jurist Johann Jakob, an expert of European International Law, later developed
by Hobbes, Bentham and Austin.
Nations found lacking in pre-requisite of
sovereignty are said to be "half sovereign". Recounting the points
narrated above, India fits the bill. There are number of symptoms indicating
that Muslims are state by themselves. The AIMPLB wants removal of article
44 from the Constitution itself. On the other hand majority community suffer
disadvantages. Their richest religious institutions and highest educational
institutions are subjected to various Government control. Thirteen per cent
Muslims of the country applies veto against the BJP when and where it is possible.
The recent change in the political scenario
of Bangalore demonstrates it emphatically. The largest party, BJP was denied
power for being a "communal party" read Nationalist Party, proud
of civilisational assets and grand vision of India. The foundation of this
was laid by the first Prime Minister of India in the first general elections
itself. Responding to the first election manifesto of the Jan Sangh, Nehru
equated it with communalism, revivalism, obscurantism and reactionism.
In Discovery of India, Nehru, under subheadings
like Panorama of Indian past, the search for India and Bharat Mata wrote,
"Yet I think that a country with a long cultural background and a common
outlook on life develops a spirit that is peculiar to it and that is impressed
on all its children, however much they may differ among themselves.
"It was this spirit of India that I was
after, not through idle curiosity, though I was curious enough, but because
I felt that it might give me some key to the understanding of my country and
people, some guidance to thought and action. Politics and elections were today
day-to-day affairs when we grew excited over trumpery matters. But if we were
going to build the house of India's future, strong and secure and beautiful,
we would have to dig deep for the foundations."
Noted historian Dr Makkhan Lal analysing it
in his book the History of Bhartiya Jana Sangh wrote: "The catchword
in the above quotation is 'trumpery' which the Chamber's 20th C Dictionary
defines as "something showy but worthless: non-sense." "Alas!
Jawaharlal Nehru, in order to remain in power and win elections, not only
disowned all that he had written till a few years before the founding of Jana
Sangh, but also resorted to 'trumpery' to win elections and create a vote
bank for himself and is spineless followers. We need to look for an answer
to the puzzle why an icon like Nehru stooped so low." The answer lies
in the fact that "in the 1952 elections apparently Nehru feared the nationalistic
and reactionary right more than the socialist and communist left."
This is how "communal" was politically
re-discovered and exploited in politics for more than five decades and part
of Indian nation's sovereignty hijacked. This is how Hindus have been orphaned
politically and religiously. There has been complete ethnic cleansing in Pakistan.
The same is going on in Bangladesh with increasing ferocity and in India too.
Thanks to Nehru and the dynasty.