Discrimination against Muslims has to be corrected by State: Vice President

Identity and security, education and empowerment and fair share in decision making are the principal problems confronting India’s Muslims and the default in terms of exclusion and discrimination have to be corrected by the state, Vice President Hamid Ansari said on Monday.

He also cited the official objective of “sab ke sath, sab ka vikas” (with everyone, for everyone’s growth) calling it commendable and added a pre-requisite for this is “affirmative action” to ensure a common starting point and ability in all to walk at the required pace.

The vice president was speaking at the inauguration of the All India Majlois-e-Mushawarat Golden Jubilee in New Delhi.

Tracing the condition of Muslims since Independence and the work in the past decade to delineate the contours of the problem, Ansari said studies bring forth sufficient evidence to substantiate the view that “inequality traps prevent the marginalised and work in favour of the dominant groups in society”.

“It is evident from the compendium of official reports that the principal problems confronting India’s Muslims relate to: identity and security; education and empowerment; equitable share in the largesse of the state; and fair share in decision making.

“Each of these is a right of the citizen. The shortcomings in regard to each have been analysed threadbare. The challenge before us today is to develop strategies and methodologies to address them.”

The vice president said the default by the state or its agents in terms of deprivation, exclusion and discrimination (including failure to provide security) is to be corrected by the State; this needs to be done at the earliest and appropriate instruments developed for it.

“Political sagacity, the imperative of social peace, and public opinion play an important role in it. Experience shows that the corrective has to be both at the policy and the implementation levels; the latter, in particular, necessitates mechanisms to ensure active cooperation of the state governments,” he said. 

The official objective of sab ka sath sab ke vikas, is commendable, Ansari noted and added that “a pre-requisite for this is affirmative action (where necessary) to ensure a common starting point and an ability in all to walk at the required pace.

“This ability has to be developed through individual, social and governmental initiatives that fructify on the ground. Programmes have been made in abundance; the need of the hour is their implementation,” he said.

He said that exclusion and discrimination including failure to provide security has to be corrected by the state at the earliest and appropriate instruments developed for it.

“The default by the state or its agents in terms of deprivation, exclusion and discrimination (including failure to provide security) is to be corrected by the state.”

Observing that the imperative of social peace is political sagacity, the vice president said the Indian experience of a large Muslim minority living in secular polity should even be a model for others to emulate.

The community comprises 14 per cent of the country’s population.

Ansari also reminded of the Kundu report of September 2014, which had asserted that “development for the Muslim minority must be built on a bed-rock of a sense of security”.

The Kundu Committee was set up to review the implementation of the Sachar Committee report.

Ansari said the it was evident that significant sections of the community remain trapped in a vicious circle and in a culturally defensive posture that hinders self advancement.

“Tradition is made sacrosanct but the rationale of tradition is all but forgotten.  Jadeeyat or modernity has become a tainted expression.  Such a mindset constrains critical thinking necessary both for the affirmation of faith and for the well being of the community,” he observed.