News Analysis India

Tag: Minorities

  • Identification of minorities: SC grants Centre six weeks for consultation with stakeholders

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted six weeks to the Centre after it sought more time for wider consultation with stakeholders on the issue of identification of minorities, including Hindus, at the state level.

    The apex court perused the status report filed by the Ministry of Minority Affairs which said meetings were held with the states on the issue.

    “It is stated in the status report that meetings with state governments have been held and some more time is required to have a wider consultation with all stakeholders. Six weeks’ time is sought for the said purpose,” said a bench of Justices S K Kaul and A S Oka.

    The top court was hearing the pleas, including one filed by advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, which sought directions for framing guidelines for the identification of minorities at the state level, contending that Hindus are in minority in 10 states.

    The bench, which posted the matter for resumed hearing on October 19, observed the government has said it is in consultation with the states concerned.

    In the status report submitted to the court, the ministry said comments/views of the state governments including those of Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and UT of Jammu & Kashmir have not been received as of date.

    ALSO READ | Issue no-caste, no-religion certificate to child: Madras HC

    On May 10, the apex court expressed displeasure over the Centre’s shifting stand on the issue of identification of minorities, including Hindus, at the state level and directed it to hold consultations with the states within three months.

    In supersession of its earlier stand, the Centre had told the apex court the power to notify minorities is vested with the Union government and any decision with regard to the issue will be taken after discussion with states and other stakeholders.

    The Centre had in March said it was for the states and Union Territories (UTs) to take a call on whether or not to grant minority status to Hindus and other communities where they are less in number.

    Upadhyay has challenged the validity of section 2(f) of the National Commission for Minority Education Institution Act, 2004, alleging that it gives unbridled power to the Centre and termed it “manifestly arbitrary, irrational, and offending”.

    Section 2(f) of the Act empowers the Centre to identify and notify minority communities in India.

    NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted six weeks to the Centre after it sought more time for wider consultation with stakeholders on the issue of identification of minorities, including Hindus, at the state level.

    The apex court perused the status report filed by the Ministry of Minority Affairs which said meetings were held with the states on the issue.

    “It is stated in the status report that meetings with state governments have been held and some more time is required to have a wider consultation with all stakeholders. Six weeks’ time is sought for the said purpose,” said a bench of Justices S K Kaul and A S Oka.

    The top court was hearing the pleas, including one filed by advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, which sought directions for framing guidelines for the identification of minorities at the state level, contending that Hindus are in minority in 10 states.

    The bench, which posted the matter for resumed hearing on October 19, observed the government has said it is in consultation with the states concerned.

    In the status report submitted to the court, the ministry said comments/views of the state governments including those of Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and UT of Jammu & Kashmir have not been received as of date.

    ALSO READ | Issue no-caste, no-religion certificate to child: Madras HC

    On May 10, the apex court expressed displeasure over the Centre’s shifting stand on the issue of identification of minorities, including Hindus, at the state level and directed it to hold consultations with the states within three months.

    In supersession of its earlier stand, the Centre had told the apex court the power to notify minorities is vested with the Union government and any decision with regard to the issue will be taken after discussion with states and other stakeholders.

    The Centre had in March said it was for the states and Union Territories (UTs) to take a call on whether or not to grant minority status to Hindus and other communities where they are less in number.

    Upadhyay has challenged the validity of section 2(f) of the National Commission for Minority Education Institution Act, 2004, alleging that it gives unbridled power to the Centre and termed it “manifestly arbitrary, irrational, and offending”.

    Section 2(f) of the Act empowers the Centre to identify and notify minority communities in India.

  • What Hamid Ansari said is wrong: Law Minister Kiren Rijiju on ex-VP’s ‘cultural nationalism’ remarks

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Law Minister Kiren Rijiju on Friday hit out at Hamid Ansari for his remarks over Hindu nationalism, saying what the former vice president has said is “wrong” and as a member of the minority community he can proudly say that India is the safest nation.

    At a virtual panel discussion organised by the Indian American Muslim Council on Wednesday, Ansari and four US lawmakers had expressed concern over the current human rights situation in India. “What Hamid Ansari ji said is wrong..I belong to a minority community and I can proudly say that India is safest nation. Minorities facing trouble in any of our neighboring countries prefer to seek refuge in India because India is safe. Let’s be grateful to our great nation,” Rijiju said in a series of tweets.

    Some isolated incidents do take place at individual-community level but Indian culture is always inclusive. PM @narendramodi Ji’s mantra is SABKA-SAATH SABKA-VIKAS SABKA-VISHWAS SABKA-PRAYAS.Before 2014, communal riots and violence were regular but India is more peaceful now.
    — Kiren Rijiju (@KirenRijiju) January 28, 2022
    Participating in the panel discussion from India, former vice president Ansari had expressed his concern over the rising trend of Hindu nationalism.

    “In recent years, we have experienced the emergence of trends and practices that dispute the well-established principle of civic nationalism and interpose a new and imaginary practice of cultural nationalism….It wants to distinguish citizens on the basis of their faith, give vent to intolerance, insinuate otherness, and promote disquiet and insecurity,” he had alleged.

    Countering Ansari, Rijiju said some isolated incidents do take place at individual-community level “but Indian culture is always inclusive. Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji’s mantra is sabka saath, sabka vikas, sabka vishwas, sabka prayas”.

    Before 2014, communal riots and violence were regular but India is more peaceful now, the Union minister said. “Why some people who enjoy the best freedom and privilege in India join the anti-India propaganda peddled by foreign based anti India forces? What’s the satisfaction that they acquire by defaming India? At least, people in remote villages without facilities are loyal to motherland,” Rijiju said in a dig at Ansari.

  • ‘Democracy means protection of minorities’: HC questions ban on slaughterhouses in Haridwar 

    By PTI
    NAINITAL:Questioning the constitutionality of a ban on slaughterhouses in Haridwar district, the Uttarakhand High Court has said civilisation is judged by the way it treats its minorities.

    Hearing a petition filed by residents of Manglaur challenging the ban on slaughterhouses in Haridwar district on Friday, a division bench of the High Court comprising Chief Justice R S Chauhan and Justice Alok Kumar Verma said, “Democracy means the protection of minorities.

    A civilisation is judged only by the way it treats its minorities and a ban like Haridwar’s questions the extent to which the state can determine a citizen’s options.”

    The petition said the prohibition goes against the right to privacy, the right to life and the right to freely practice religion and discriminated against Muslims in Haridwar where towns like Manglaur have a substantial Muslim population.

    “Denying hygienic and fresh non-vegetarian food to people of Haridwar district across the limitations of religion and caste amounts to hostile discrimination,” the petition said.

    In March this year, the state had declared all areas of Haridwar “free from slaughterhouses” and cancelled the NOCs issued to slaughterhouses.

    The petition claimed the ban was “arbitrary and unconstitutional”.

    The petition challenged this for two reasons: a blanket ban on meat of any kind is unconstitutional, as is Section 237A that the Uttarakhand government had inserted into the Uttar Pradesh Municipalities Act, to give itself the power to declare an area under a municipal corporation, council or nagar panchayat as a “slaughter-free” zone.

    The court said the petition has raised “serious fundamental questions” and would involve a constitutional interpretation.

    On similar issues, the Supreme Court had earlier raised concerns that “meat ban cannot be forced down the throat of anyone. Tomorrow, you will say nobody should eat meat,” the HC said.

    Keeping this in mind, the High Court observed, “The question is whether a citizen has the right to decide his own diet or whether that will be decided by the state.”

    However, the court maintained that this is a constitutional issue not restricted by festivals and the case needed proper hearing and deliberations.

    Hence, it is not possible to conclude it in time for Bakrid which falls on July 21, the court said, adding that the next hearing of the petition will be held on July 23.

  • New book reveals it was Congress party which stopped Dr APJ Abdul Kalam from becoming India’s President for his second term

    The Congress party which has always attacked Prime Minister Modi Government for ill treating the minorities and not treating them equally has in fact no concern for them and has always used them as a placard for fulfilling their political motives.

    In a shocking revelation it has come to forefront that Congress and its allies didn’t supported former president APJ Abdul Kalam for presidential position in 2012.BJP and the Trinmool Congress backed him for the position but because of not getting support from Congress party he pulled himself out of the race, reveals new book penned down by historian Rajmohan Gandhi

    “After his presidency ended in 2007, Kalam’s enthusiasm for India’s classical culture, his liberal praise for leaders of some Hindu religious bodies, and his earlier work for India’s defence made him Hindu India’s favourite Muslim,” historian Rajmohan Gandhi writes in Modern South India: A History from the 17th Century to Our Times.

    “Some political parties, including the BJP and the Trinamool Congress, proposed a willing Kalam for a fresh presidential term in 2012, but the Congress and its allies did not take to the idea. Aware that he lacked the numbers, Kalam did not stand, and Pranab Mukherjee became president, he says

    Yet Congress claims to be a secular party.The real worry of Congress was that APJ Abdul Kalam was more popular than Sonia Gandhi so they didn’t want him again to be President.Any popular persons posing threat to the business of Gandhi family were not welcome in the past and the same attitude by this family continues to the present time. What happened to Gayatri Devi, Shastri and Abdul Kalam proves it.

    Congress party has always crushed the leader who has come in their path. It basically can’t be stated as the party of the different leaders but it is party of stooges and boot-lickers of Gandhi family. Those who work in accordance with Gandhi’s they are pampered in the party or I can say only those people get place in the party who work according to will of Gandhi’s. Because anybody who will raise the voice against Gandhi’s will be expelled from the party. Under the rule of Congress Government not only the party leaders but any powerful position will be acquired only by that person who will follow the rules and guidelines of Gandhi family or else he will be thrown out . Whatever tactics or strategies the party may have to adopt but the party will not let it happen.

    The same is the problem of Congress now. In 2014 people have shown the party its way out by choosing Narendra Modi as a Prime Minister.This hard fact is not being digested by Congress party till now that a Chaiwala has become the PM  who is honestly governing India, who has brought Congress party to its end. So they keep on putting false allegations on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Government.

    Folks,It’s again time to teach this party a lesson and not getting trapped in the false net laid by them. Let’s throw this family centric party out in 2019