From: kak@max.ee.lsu.edu (Dr. S. Kak)
Subject: The Roots of the Recent Violence in India
Status: OR
To: editor@rbhatnagar.csm.uc.edu
Originator: editor@rbhatnagar
Organization: Univ of Cincinnati
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 1992 15:21:33 GMT
Return-Path: <kak@max.ee.lsu.edu>

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The Roots of the Recent Violence in India

 by  Subhash Kak

Religious and caste discord in India, if allowed to fester, has
the potential of turning into a bloodbath in comparison with which
the continuing horrors of Yugoslavia may look like a garden party.
In the event of such a catastrophe the Western world would be
saddled with millions of refugees.

It is my contention that the dispute over the mosque/temple at
Ayodhya is just a symptom of a much deeper problem.  What the
resolution to the Ayodhya problem might be is not immediately clear.
But it appears that certain initiatives from the Indian government
will calm the waters a great deal and create conditions where the
more emotional issues can be resolved.

There are two primary reasons for the increased Hindu militancy of
the past decade.  These reasons are related to the breakdown of
the Indian political system and the cynical use of vote-banks by
the major parties.

Politics of Historical Wrongs

The Indian Constitution which came into force in 1950 provided
quotas for certain historically disadvantaged castes and tribes in
the legislatures in proportion to their populations.  These quotas
ran to about 14 percent of the total.  In addition there were job
quotas of about 22 percent.  The quotas were to have been in force
for a period of 10 years only but the Constitution has been amended
for these to remain a part of the law.

Electoral considerations soon led to an enlargement of the quotas
to cover increasing groups of people.  Lacking a larger moral and
political vision, the politicians have used the quotas to divide
the population.  In certain states the quotas are as large as 70
percent of all the jobs.

More recently the leftist Janata party, has developed its entire
political agenda on quotas based on caste divisions.  V.P. Singh,
who was prime minister during 1989-90 used the recommendations of
a certain Mandal Commission to announce reservations for more than
70 percent of all jobs.  This triggered a wave of suicides by the
youth that finally brought down his government.  Nevertheless in
the campaign that followed leading politicians like Rajiv Gandhi
and V.P. Singh spoke of their support for further quotas, some even
based on religion.

Most recently the P.V. Narasimha Rao Government has passed a bill
that would reserve close to 60 percent of all jobs based on different
criteria related to circumstances of birth rather than fitness to
perform the job.  In other words the Mandal Commission recommendations,
although with some modifications, have become law.  The law with
certain modifications has recently been upheld by India's Supreme
Court for its constitutionality although it ruled that the reserved
positions could not exceed 50 percent of the total jobs and economic
considerations could not be used for determining eligibility.  A
new wave of demonstrations and suicides have followed.

The logic of the quotas is to right a historical wrong.  The leftist
parties in India have exploited the rhetoric of these wrongs and
of caste bashing to hold on to their electoral support.

The leftist parties take it as axiomatic that India's backwardness
is due to the Hindu religion.  The Hindu right feels that the caste
politics of the leftist parties is to weaken the hold of the Hindu
religion.  It has countered by seizing on the emotive issue of the
historical wrongs by the Muslims who ruled India for about 500
years to divert the attention from the caste politics of the left.

Observing the events of the past three years one sees that the
Ayodhya temple issue has often heated up following the moves of
the left on the caste quotas.

There is a feeling that the Congress party will not maintain power
too long because of the international collapse of the socialist
model of economy, which was at the heart of the party's policies.
What we witness then is a bitter fight between the left and the
right for the heart of India.

An asymmetric law

Now imagine the U.S. with a law that allows only the religious
minorities to run their tax-exempt parochial schools.  In such a
situation it will be natural for the Christian majority to consider
this law discriminatory and have it expunged.  Such an asymmetry
is the other main reason behind religious discord in India today.

An obscure Article in the Indian Constitution was used in the 70's
by the Communist provincial government of West Bengal to challenge
the right of the Hindus to run their schools and colleges.  According
to this Article members of the majority religion do not have the
right to establish their own religious schools whereas the minority
religions do.  When the Supreme Court of India upheld the interpretation
of the Communists, several Hindu sects that ran schools filed for
or received status as
 minority religions  to prevent the government takeover of their
schools.

The government of India did not respond to this ruling of the court
to try to change the law so that all religions would be treated
equally.  This has led to a great resentment amongst the Hindus.

It is absolutely essential that the government of India undertake
the following initiatives:

*Enactment of uniform laws for all citizens.

*Drop the  cheap  remedy of righting historical wrongs through the
 system of caste quotas that the Narasimha Rao government has
 embraced.

*Repeal the law that bars the Hindus from running their schools and
 colleges.

*Strengthen the judiciary which currently has a very low credibility.

In addition the press in India should be encouraged to develop an
editorial convention to stop the incessant airing of historical
injustices.  Bashing of any community and class should be made into
a statutory offence.

There is another important reason for the rise of the recent Hindu
militancy.  This is the general belief in India that Pakistan is
behind the sectarian killings that have racked the provinces of
Punjab and Kashmir for the past decade.  International pressure on
Pakistan to dissociate itself from such sectarian violence would
reduce tensions.

Another sore point are the victims of the sectarian violence in
Kashmir.  The government of India has, for strange electoral reasons,
decided to ignore them.  The Indian government should be asked to
provide a humane settlement for these Hindu refugees who have been
languishing in camps in Jammu and Delhi for the past three years.