The Problem of National, Racial and Religious Minorities

Abstract

THE PROBLEM OF NATIONAL, racial and religious minorities brings us into the very heart of today's world crisis. Underlying and complicating the difficult and perplexing issue of political freedom for India are at least three seemingly irreconcilable racial, religious and national minorities-the Brahmins, the Mohammedans and the 'untouchableswhose conflicts makes it exceedingly difficult for the people of India, with its vast Hindu majority, to organize a united and independent government. In Ireland even today the question of union brings us squarely face to face with a minority problem. There, while it is not the only issue, yet, in the minds and hearts of many, it looms large as a vital if not the dominant one. In Spain, the civil war was greatly complicated by national minority issues. In France, where modern conceptions of a virile, aggressive, nationalistic state seemed to many such as to render it impregnable, the smouldering heritage of suppressions suffered by national and racial minorities with distinct dialects and cultures, coupled with the anti-Christian policies of the