Framework of Minorit Politics . Gopat KrisHNa No plural society has been abl ‘ the problem of integrating its Shee cee econly adjusting their mutual relations in such a Pein es eae vidual dentsiee while pesraol ERS ESE Gotaia necessary for the viability of a composite Pema contain as may pluralities as does our own Aaa task of se ng: socta cohest one TeMime enderealtc eRNGE fie ei ate cedtie tt ciaceltrs Gy tees 2 ee oa change. The processes of social, economic and_ political fee Se iecn ati cri TOE Syeice deer etm aT et Sa ee Prulelatina (ie Sone ne aaa Hea aca th framework of the composite society. ee ‘The communal problem of India in the essentials stems from the fact that the confrontation between Hinduism and Islam resulted in a stalemate. Percival Spear has pointed out that to European travellers visiting India during the Mughal period the Indian situation appeared comparable to that of the earner empire in the early years of Christianity: though numerically few at that time, the Christians were destined to convert the Roman empire to the new religion: similarly Islam, especially pet was the religion of the rulers, was considered likely in due 3 ise to overwhelm the Hindu majority." The confrontation Proved inconclusive and the nineteenth century witnessed the vrevor movements seeking the regeneration of Hinduism and of *From Seminar (106), June 1968. IT.G-P. Spear, ‘The Position of the Muslims, Before and After Partition’, India and Ceylon, Unity ‘and Diversity, Philip Mason, (ed.), Oxford University Press, London, 1967, p. 31.2 TRIBE, CASTE AND RELIGION IN INDIA a lel lines. In the process, the basic issues which °g Pa indian public life since the Mutiny were formu. have domina i e e organised political movements emerged during ore er the nineteenth century. The communal sii India has aboveall been the movement of Muslims Aon the Hind majority areas of the Indian subcontinent. [t from te accident that communal sentiment—fear of the Hindu is no sentimer Islam along parall the last quarter feguards, including separate jority and the search for _safeg luding_separa a ee {he reservation of seats and, later, parity in legislative ‘ose first in North India, and the separatist al centres of activity in the Hindu-majority Historical_ memories, or rather the t happened in history, exercise far greater influence on contemporat r 2 in is generally believed and they have been the basis of the communal politics of modern India. : : Tt was a central thesis of some major Indian Muslim thinkers that India could not be a nation and that the doctrine of nationalism itself was evil because it threatened the unity of the ‘Muslim community which, in theory, transcends territorial and racial divisions. Iqbal opposed the doctrine of territorial nationalism and Maulana Mohammed Ali held that India had to be a ‘federation of faiths’ rather than a nation-State. While denytng the applicability of the idea of nationhood to India, they, and before them Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, rejected the idea of democracy based on equal citizenship; they believed that adult franchise could not be an acceptable political basis fora plural society because of the inevitable threat it would pase to The nationalist Muslim leaders, pre-eminent among them, Maulana Azad, believed that territorial nationalism was not in conflict with the idea of the community of the believers and that Muslims could be active partners with members of the other religious communities in the construction and operation of a Political system that assured equal citizenship to all. This approach was rejected by the great majority of the Muslim community. (By a twist of history the political, as distinct from religious, opponents of nationalism became the advocates of a Separate State for Indian Muslims.) Finally, the efforts of nearly half a century devoted to working out a generally acceptableRAMEWORK OF MINORITY POLITICS 167 PRAMEWO! of Muslims has been caused by the met Cerin t is hard to determine, but the tthe iependents as a major category Of Muslim of IndeTefing over a quarter of the electoral support 13: CO candidates, isa significant indicator of cured by 11 Muslim political outlook in recent years. ee it cal situation of the Muslim community is extremely The Polcause of the nature of the choice placed before it. “Its delicate because San integrated view of politicial, social and tradition fe, all subsumed under religion, has been to accord personaly only toa pronouncedly communal standpoint. Even a Congress MLA from Madras protested in 1964 that. elect activities oF 16 ence of under the present system of joint electorate, Hindu society has no opportunity to get to know the real mind of the Muslim community because most of the Muslims whom they have adopted in the secular party have naturally got to be considered asshow boys of the majority community. (They are) those who by flattering the powers that be got into good positions to betray both the Hindu and Muslim communi instead of bringing relations closer together. ... There is no political party of the Muslim community in this country excepting the Muslim League... ..° The need to provide the community with acceptable represen- tatives and at the same time to prevent the political fragmentation of the Muslim electorate has led the Jamaat-e-Islami to foster the idea that Muslims must operate as a monolithic entity in the political life of the country. This approach proceeds. from the assumption that material safety id iti influence for Muslii onl: : only by dari. and from the fear that if Muslims were to exercise individual choice in the selection of their representatives or to attach themselves to avowedly secular parties, the community itself would disintegrate. The increasing number of communal riots SCited by Theodore P. Wright, Jr. ‘The Effectiveness of Muslim Representation i India’, South Asian Politics and Religion, Donald E. Smith (ed.), Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, 1966, p-119.