Jains not a Minority, read SC judgment

08-20-2005, 05:18 AM

Namaskar Mitra,
http://esamskriti.com/html/inside.as...s_not_minority
Through a August 05 judgment, the Supreme Court held that Jains are not a
minority. Interestingly a Economic Times editorial criticised the Supreme Court
for its judgment!

Judgment Highlights
According to a 11 judges bench speaking through CJ Kripal “for the State
Government to decide as to whether the Jain community should be treated as a
minority community in their respective states after taking into account their
circumstances/conditions in that state". It is also informed that the State
Governments of Chhatisgarh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and
Uttaranchal have already notified Jains as 'minority' in accordance with the
provisions of the respective State Minority Commissions Act. The expression
'minority' has been used in Articles 29 and 30 of the Constitution but it has
nowhere been defined. Minority as understood from constitutional scheme
signifies an identifiable group of people or community who were seen as
deserving protection from likely deprivation of their religious, cultural and
educational rights by other communities who happen to be in majority and likely
to gain political power in a democratic form of Government based on election.
The National Minorities Commission does not have the power to define who is a
Minority. After the verdict in the eleven judges' Bench in TMA Pai Foundation
case (supra), the legal position stands clarified that henceforth the unit for
determining status of both linguistic and religious minorities would be
'state'. The so-called minority communities like Sikhs and Jains were not
treated as national minorities at the time of framing the Constitution unlike
Muslims, Christians. Sikhs and Jains, in fact, have throughout been treated as
part of the wider Hindu community, which has different sects, sub-sects,
faiths, modes of worship and religious philosophies. The word 'Hindu' conveys
the image of diverse groups of communities living in India Thus, 'Hinduism' can
be called a general religion and common faith of India whereas 'Jainism' is a
special religion formed on the basis of quintessence of Hindu religion.
Commissions set up for minorities have to direct their activities to maintain
integrity and unity of India by gradually eliminating the minority and majority
classes. In a caste-ridden Indian society, no section or distinct group of
people can claim to be in majority. All are minorities amongst Hindus. Our
concept of secularism, to put it in a nutshell, is that 'state' will have no
religion. The states will treat all religions and religious groups equally and
with equal respect without in any manner interfering with their individual
rights of religion, faith and worship.
Disagree. Then why must State governments control Hindu temples? Why must temple
contributions become part of the State Treasury? Why must not Hindus get subsidy
for going to Char Dham / Kailash Mansrovar like Muslims, ie if all religions are
equal?

Minority or not and constitutional benefits thereon has become a victim of vote
bank politics. The Akali Dal government of Parkash Singh Badal declared Sikhs
to be a minority in Punjab although Sikhs are a majority in that state and have
a fellow Sikh as Chief Minister. Since the Supreme Court has held
‘State’ to be the unit for deciding whether a community is a
Minority or not, wonder whether Hindus have been declared a Minority in the
states of Jammu & Kashmir, Mizoram, Nagaland, Punjab and so on!

With Prem, Cheers
sanjeev