Democracy, Pluralism and the Religious Minorities: The Muslim Question in India

Abstract

On the basis of a critical examination of the report of the high-level committee on the social, economic and educational status of Muslims in India (also known as the Sachar Committee Report) and the Justice Ranganath Misra Commission Report, the article foregrounds issues relating to the perceived appeasement, marginalisation, discrimination and social exclusion of Muslims in India. Despite being the largest religious minorities group in the country, the reports show them to be the most deprived of India’s social groups and communities, with an appalling social, occupational and economic profile. Whereas a very large section of the Indian Muslim population is being left behind in the drive towards development, they equally bear the wrath of right-wing Hindu fundamentalist groups that perceive them as anti-nationalists and cultural outsiders. These identity-related issues offer us an opportunity to address the public policy challenges of ‘mainstreaming’ and inclusiveness of a minority group in a multicultural national setting. Specifically, this article looks at the ways and means of enhancing diversity in different spaces by way of public policy interventions and the challenges therein. Viewed thus, the article proposes to anchor the conceptual richness of the debate surrounding pluralism, democracy and citizenship to the realist world of public policy-making. In a related vein, it goes beyond an understanding of the formal processes and procedures of the acquisition of citizenship rights and focuses on substantive sources of mainstreaming and political exclusion. In the process, it revisits our conceptualisation of the cultural ingredients of a democratic nation-state, albeit from the perspective of a numerically preponderant (but otherwise powerless) minority. Through its analytical focus on the largest religious minorities group in India, the article intends to illuminate the complex political debates about minority rights in a democratic polity.