Countries of the World/COUNTRYS.BIN/dp/0169/01691.txt

Text File | 1991-06-25 | 24KB | 381 lines

$Unique_ID{COW01691}
$Pretitle{221}
$Title{India
Chapter 8E.   Religion and Politics}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Donald M. Seekins}
$Affiliation{HQ, Department of the Army}
$Subject{sikh
sikhs
government
religious
hindus
political
state
akali
dal
punjab}
$Date{1985}
$Log{}
Country:     India
Book:        India, A Country Study
Author:      Donald M. Seekins
Affiliation: HQ, Department of the Army
Date:        1985

Chapter 8E.   Religion and Politics

     One of the foundations of the Indian polity is secularism. In principle,
this means not only that freedom of religion and equal respect for all
religious traditions are guaranteed but also that the government must remain
aloof in matters of a strictly religious nature. Unlike the Islamic Republic
of Pakistan, the Republic of India is not avowedly based on the principles of
any single religion. Religious neutrality was a legacy of British rule
wholeheartedly adopted by Congress, one that Mahatma Gandhi, despite his use
of Hindu religious and moral symbols, strongly affirmed (although a
commentator has noted that Gandhi "never wearied of arguing that all religions
expressed the same truth...unaware that this involved a peculiarly Hindu
definition of truth").

     Given bitter memories of the 1947 partition, when hundreds of thousands
of people were killed in communal violence involving Hindus, Sikhs, and
Muslims, secularism has been regarded by India's political leaders as vital to
national unity and survival. Only a minority of the population, however,
accepts secularism in the Western sense of the term, i.e., recognition of an
autonomous sphere of worldly activity, encompassing politics but separate from
spiritual life, the latter being a purely private and individual affair. For
the majority, religion is inextricably tied to social, economic, and political
issues.

     The divergence of viewpoints causes considerable confusion and ambiguity,
particularly because secularism is not defined, or even mentioned, in the
Constitution. Article 25 guarantees "freedom of conscience and free
profession, practice and propagation of religion," and Articles 26, 27, and
28 affirm the "freedom to manage religious affairs," freedom to pay or refrain
from paying religious taxes, and freedom to attend religious instruction or
worship. There is no mention of the state as religiously neutral.

     Communalism (a term generally used in the Indian context to refer to
religious, as opposed to regional or caste, differences) remained a formidable
element in politics in the mid-1980s. Given the group nature of social and
economic life, religious communities commonly saw themselves in competition.
Social change produced new abrasions and resentments. Instances of communal
violence had increased since the early 1970s, and observers noted that some
local politicians, hoping to take advantage of popular resentments, had
employed criminals to attack the houses and shops of religious minorities and
then attributed the violence to "spontaneous" outbreaks of religious rivalry
(see Religious, Communal, Class, and Regional Differences, ch. 10).

The Muslim Community

     India's 80 million Muslims (mid-1980s estimate), the country's largest
religious minority, were found throughout the country; they formed the
majority only in Kashmir and in the union territory of Lakshadweep. Isolated
amid a "sea" of Hindus, losing most of their dynamic leaders and upper
classes to Pakistan after 1947, and suspected by Hindus of being a fifth
column for that state ever since, Muslims in the mid-1980s were divided and
politically insecure; since independence they have generally supported the
ruling Congress, the significant exception being the 1977 general election.

     Muslim institutions of political importance included the Muslim League, a
remnant of the original movement led by Mohammad Ali Jinnah that demanded a
separate Pakistan (see The Beginnings of Muslim Separatism, ch. 1). Its
support was located primarily in Kerala (where Muslims accounted for about 20
percent of the population). The League advocated the reservation of college
places, government jobs, and seats in the state legislative assemblies for
Muslims. The Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat (Muslim Consultative Council),
established in 1964, mobilized support for political candidates, regardless
of party affiliation, who showed concern for Muslim welfare. The
Jamaat-i-Islami, primarily a religious and cultural organization, sought the
conversion of Hindus to Islam and the promotion of religious orthodoxy. It was
banned during the 1975-77 Emergency because of alleged links with foreign
powers, but it enjoyed a revival after 1977.

     In orthodox Islam, religion, politics, and social life form a coherent
whole, and the concept of a secular state is regarded by fundamentalist
Muslims as essentially irreligious. Members of the Jamaat-i-Islami and other
"fundamentalists" have questioned the legitimacy of any political order not
based on sharia, Islamic law. Moderate Muslims accept the secular state
concept but have been reluctant to advocate the reform of Muslim personal law
or recourse by Muslims to Indian civil law. Other issues of sensitivity to
Muslims included such matters as the status of the Urdu language (and Arabic
in Kerala), the quality of Islamic educational facilities, the upkeep of
public facilities, such as Islamic cemeteries, and the maintenance of cattle
slaughterhouses (beef, a part of the Muslim diet, is an anathema to observant
Hindus).

Hindu Militance

     Hindu militant groups, such as the RSS, the Hindu Mahasabha, and the Ram
Rajya Parishad, have advocated a restoration of orthodox ritual practices and
traditional spirituality and have also called for abandonment of the secular
state in favor of a "Hindu Rashtra," or Hindu nation. An extremist associated
with the RSS and the Hindu Mahasabha assassinated Mahatma Gandhi in January
1948, but in the mid-1980s these groups publicly supported his goal of a
morally renovated Hinduism accomplished through abolition of untouchability.
Militant groups-particularly the RSS, whose members are organized in a
quasi-military fashion-have often been linked with violence against Muslims
and other minorities. Like the Jamaat-i-Islami, the RSS was banned during
the emergency, its political arm was the Jana Sangh, though this party merged
with the Janata Party in 1977.

     Issues of special concern to traditionalist Hindus in the mid-1980s
included the abolition of the slaughter of cows and a ban on the conversion of
Hindus to other religions, particularly Islam. Large numbers of harijans had
been converted to Islam in Southern India, particularly in Tamil Nadu, and
Hindu groups were alarmed that Islamic missionary groups received substantial
aid from wealthy countries on the Arabian peninsula. In Orissa and Madhya
Pradesh, Hindu groups managed to have laws passed prohibiting the conversion
of Hindus through "inducements," a measure aimed at Christian as well as
Muslim proselytization.

Occupational Interest Groups

     Urban-based occupational interest groups-trade unions, business groups,
and professional associations-play a central role in the political life of
most industrialized nations; but in India, where 80 percent of the population
lives in rural villages where caste still defines social relations, such
groups must share access to government with the advocates of more
"traditional" caste, communal, and regional interests. In recent years, as a
result of the prosperity wrought by the Green Revolution, "capitalist farmers"
have joined agricultural pressure groups, such as Charan Singh's All-India
Kisan Sammelan. This group's strength was graphically demonstrated in December
1978, when 800,000 peasants came to New Delhi to hold demonstrations in honor
of its founder. The streets of the capital were clogged not only with
bullock carts but also with tractors, symbols of the activist farmers' new
prosperity.

     In the mid-1980s trade unions in India continued to be highl