Poser to Modi: Why is Gujarat not fulfilling Constitutional obligations to minorities?

Gujarat minorities demanding rehabilitation package for 2002 communal riot affected people

Counterview Desk
In an open letter, Mujahid Nafees, convener, Minority Coordination Committee (MCC), a Gujarat-based civil rights organization, has accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi on infringing upon MCC activists’ constitutional right to protest. Nafees says, they had no other demands except that the Gujarat government should move towards fulfilling the constitutional obligations towards minorities and international treaties to which India is a signatory.

Text of the letter:

You have been the Chief Minister of Gujarat for threetimes and are now the Prime Minister of the country, and this is a Constitutional post. You took oath while becoming Chief Minister and Prime Minister that you will follow the Constitution of this country. But we are very sorry to tell you that you appear to not very keen to fulfil your Constitutional responsibilities and respect the international treaties to which India is a signatory.
When you were the Chief Minister of Gujarat, you gave the slogan “sabka vikas, sabke saath” (development of all, by taking along all together), but you forgot to develop the minorities; not only that, you pushed minorities even further to the wall.
Sir, you have tried very hard to get rid of the Constitutional dictum, that the state is not aligned with any particular religion; instead, you have tried to pit Hindus against Muslims. But we are happy to inform you that citizens of India have woken up and they have started demanding implementation of their constitutional rights.
On January 18, 2019, we had planned to tell this to you, and also wanted to remind you to keep high the dignity of the office you occupy, and that you should obey international treaties. However, you took away our constitutional right to protest. Police picked us up from our home and we were made to sit in the police station throughout the day. It did not add to the dignity of the office you occupy.
This has made us write this open letter to you.

We feel that you must ensure that the Constitutional rights of the minorities, which are enshrined in Sections 14,15(2), 15(4), 16(1), 16(2), 16(4), 25(1), 26,27, 28,29(1), 29(2), 30(1, 30(2), 347, 350(A), 350(B), 37,38(2), 46,51(A), 51(C) of the Constitution, are taken care of.

These sections refer to equality before law and state, non-discrimination on the basis of religion, ethnicity, race, sex, or place of birth, special care to socially and educationally backward classes, protecting the interests of minorities, including their distinct language, script or culture – all of which is not being implemented in Gujarat today.

Mujahid Nafees

India is a signatory to Articles 2, 6, 7, 8, and 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights dated December 10, 1948, which concern the development and protection of minorities. It is also a signatory to the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities, dated December 18, 1992.

More recently, after you took over reigns of the government, in 2015, India signed on the United Nations treaty on Millennium Development Goal (Sustainable Development Goals), whose goal Nos 10 and 16 especially focus on minorities.
While India has accepted these international agreements, these are not being implemented in Gujarat.
The Minority Coordination Committee (MCC) wants to pose to you a few questions, and we will be happy to get their answers in any pre-planned press conference which you may wish to address:

As you know, there exists the need to have a separate department to run schemes for the development for any community identified as backward. Taking this into account, in 2006, a Minority Affairs Ministry was set up at the Centre, and departments on similar lines were set up in several states. Why not in Gujarat?
The Government of India set aside Rs 4,700 crore for this year for the development of minorities. Similarly, separate allocation have been made in some other states of the country. Why not in Gujarat?
There exists National Minorities Commission at the Centre and State Minority Commissions in 18 states for the redress of the grievances of minority communities. Why not in Gujarat?
In Gujarat, the girls’ dropout rate at the primary school level is 1.67%, but it 10.58% among the state’s Muslim girls. What this?
Why is there a severe shortage of higher secondary schools in Gujarat's minority-dominated areas?
In other states of the country, children studying Arabic, Persian and Urdu have been recognized as equivalent to the respective official languages. If this is true of the country and other states, why not in Gujarat?
Several government-appointed committees and commissions and their reports suggest that minority communities haven't still not become part the mainstream, especially in Gujarat. If this is true, why can’t minorities in Gujarat have a special economic package, in the same way as other communities have been allocated on account of their backwardness?
Thousands of families have been displaced in Gujarat due to communal violence. Why didn’t Government of Gujarat come up with any policy for their rehabilitation?
Following the recommendations of the Sachar Committee, the Prime Minister's new 15-point programme is being implemented by the Central government and in most Indian states. However, its implementation in Gujarat is almost non-existent. Why?

We hope that you will answer these questions and move towards fulfilling your Constitutional obligation and international treaties to which India is a signatory.
---
*Free translation from Hindi

Comments

1857 War of Independence... when Hindu-Muslim separatism, hatred wasn't an issue

"The Sepoy Revolt at Meerut", Illustrated London News, 1857 By Shamsul Islam* Large sections of Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs unitedly challenged the greatest imperialist power, Britain, during India’s First War of Independence which began on May 10, 1857; the day being Sunday. This extraordinary unity, naturally, unnerved the firangees and made them realize that if their rule was to continue in India, it could happen only when Hindus and Muslims, the largest two religious communities were divided on communal lines.

The curious case of multiple entries of a female voter of Maharashtra: What ECI's online voter records reveal

By Venkatesh Nayak* Cyberspace is agog with data, names and documents which question the reliability of the electoral rolls prepared by the electoral bureaucracy in Maharashtra prior to the General Elections conducted in 2024. One such example of deep dive probing has brought to the surface, the name of one female voter in the 132-Nalasopara (Gen) Vidhan Sabha Constituency in Maharashtra. Nalasopara is part of the Palghar (ST) Lok Sabha constituency. This media report claims that this individual's name figures multiple times in the voter list of the same constituency.

N-power plant at Mithi Virdi: CRZ nod is arbitrary, without jurisdiction

By Krishnakant* A case-appeal has been filed against the order of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) and others granting CRZ clearance for establishment of intake and outfall facility for proposed 6000 MWe Nuclear Power Plant at Mithi Virdi, District Bhavnagar, Gujarat by Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) vide order in F 11-23 /2014-IA- III dated March 3, 2015. The case-appeal in the National Green Tribunal at Western Bench at Pune is filed by Shaktisinh Gohil, Sarpanch of Jasapara; Hajabhai Dihora of Mithi Virdi; Jagrutiben Gohil of Jasapara; Krishnakant and Rohit Prajapati activist of the Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti. The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has issued a notice to the MoEF&CC, Gujarat Pollution Control Board, Gujarat Coastal Zone Management Authority, Atomic Energy Regulatory Board and Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) and case is kept for hearing on August 20, 2015. Appeal No. 23 of 2015 (WZ) is filed, a...

Spirit of leadership vs bondage: Of empowered chairman of 100-acre social forestry coop

By Gagan Sethi* This is about Khoda Sava, a young Dalit belonging to the Vankar sub-caste, who worked as a bonded labourer in a village near Vadgam in Banskantha district of North Gujarat. The year was 1982. Khoda had taken a loan of Rs 7,000 from the village sarpanch, a powerful landlord doing money-lending as his side business. Khoda, who had taken the loan for marriage, was landless. Normally, villagers would mortgage their land if they took loan from the sarpanch. But Khoda had no land. He had no option but to enter into a bondage agreement with the sarpanch in order to repay the loan. Working in bondage on the sarpanch’s field meant that he would be paid Rs 1,200 per annum, from which his loan amount with interest would be deducted. He was also obliged not to leave the sarpanch’s field and work as daily wager somewhere else. At the same time, Khoda was offered meal once a day, and his wife job as agricultural worker on a “priority basis”. That year, I was working as secretary...

Proposed Modi yatra from Jharkhand an 'insult' of Adivasi hero Birsa Munda: JMM

Counterview Desk The civil rights network, Jharkhand Janadhikar Mahasabha (JMM), which claims to have 30 grassroots groups under its wings, has decided to launch Save Democracy campaign to oppose Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Vikasit Bharat Sankalp Yatra to be launched on November 15 from the village of legendary 19th century tribal independence leader Birsa Munda from Ulihatu (Khunti district).

Ground reality: Israel would a remain Jewish state, attempt to overthrow it will be futile

By NS Venkataraman* Now that truce has been arrived at between Israel and Hamas for a period of four days and with release of a few hostages from both sides, there is hope that truce would be further extended and the intensity of war would become significantly less. This likely “truce period” gives an opportunity for the sworn supporters and bitter opponents of Hamas as well as Israel and the observers around the world to introspect on the happenings and whether this war could have been avoided. There is prolonged debate for the last several decades as to whom the present region that has been provided to Jews after the World War II belong. View of some people is that Jews have been occupants earlier and therefore, the region should belong to Jews only. However, Christians and those belonging to Islam have also lived in this regions for long period. While Christians make no claim, the dispute is between Jews and those who claim themselves to be Palestinians. In any case...

Two more "aadhaar-linked" Jharkhand deaths: 17 die of starvation since Sept 2017

Kaleshwar's sons Santosh and Mantosh Counterview Desk A fact-finding team of the Right to Feed Campaign, pointing towards the death of two more persons due to starvation in Jharkhand, has said that this has happened because of the absence of aadhaar, leading to “persistent lack of food at home and unavailability of any means of earning.” It has disputed the state government claims that these deaths are due to reasons other than starvation, adding, the authorities have “done nothing” to reduce the alarming state of food insecurity in the state.

A comrade in culture and controversy: Yao Wenyuan’s revolutionary legacy

By Harsh Thakor* This year marks two important anniversaries in Chinese revolutionary history—the 20th death anniversary of Yao Wenyuan, and the 50th anniversary of his seminal essay "On the Social Basis of the Lin Biao Anti-Party Clique". These milestones invite reflection on the man whose pen ignited the first sparks of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and whose sharp ideological interventions left an indelible imprint on the political and cultural landscape of socialist China.

Morbi’s ceramic workers face silicosis epidemic, 92% denied legal health benefits: PTRC study

By Rajiv Shah A new study by the Gujarat-based health rights organisation, Peoples Training and Research Centre (PTRC), warns that most workers in Morbi district’s ceramic industry—which produces 90% of India’s ceramic output—are at high risk of contracting silicosis, a deadly occupational disease.

Search This Blog