Two contrasting stances on minorities in India expose the West's double standards

The West either does not understand the complexities that come with a heterogenous society or deliberately overlooks it to possibly suit a particular narrative that they want to spread.

It is said that one should step into a new year with the lessons that were learned in the previous year. In that regard, 2022 was a momentous year as it exposed many biases of the West when it comes to India and taught the world how to look at issues in an objective manner. Two reports that came out at the end of 2022, unfortunately, got lost in the din of multiple events that were occurring at that point and did not get the attention that they truly deserved. They are important in understanding how easy it is to propagate an agenda by those who are powerful and how difficult it becomes to counter it. The first report was the Global Minority Report brought out by the Patna-based Centre for Policy Analysis (CPA) which is a 170-page long comprehensive document on the status of minorities in 110 countries. Using an evidence-based approach, it found that India is the most inclusive nation for minorities. The second report was released by the U.S. Commission for International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), just two weeks after the release of the Global Minority Report. In its six-page report, it recommended that the U. S. Department of State designate India as a "country of particular concern" for engaging in or tolerating systematic, ongoing, and egregious religious freedom violations, as set forth by the International Religious Freedom Act. It further claimed that the Indian government continues to enforce policies targeting the minorities and continues to suppress critical voices.

The fact that the two reports that were released just two weeks apart can have such different conclusions is staggering. But it gives an important lesson in how narratives are distorted and how they are being spread to suit vested interests. Even a cursory look at the USCIRF report would reveal that the main incident that was used to substantiate their findings that minorities are supressed and are voiceless in India was the anti-CAA protests. What is interesting here is that in judging another nation, the US not only forgot its history but also its present. The severe crushing of the Black Lives Matter movement claimed at least 25 lives in 2020 whereas in India, a peaceful protest was allowed to take place and a platform was given to the minorities to voice their concerns.

It is evident that the West either does not understand the complexities that come with a heterogenous society or deliberately overlooks it to possibly suit a particular narrative that they want to spread. It is in such a toxic and vitiated environment that efforts were taken by CPA to publish a detailed study on the status of minorities. Unlike the reports of the past by the West on the same topic, the Global Minority Report focuses on minority rights and freedom from all aspects. It did not let stand-alone incidents colour its view and instead analysed policies of the 110 nations that it had identified for the study on different parameters like constitutional provisions, legislations, the approach of a state towards minority religionists, public policy, and openness of opportunity for religious minorities for the highest office in the country. It also took into account that culture is intrinsically linked to religion and that it becomes an important determining factor in how minorities live in a country.

By analysing the status of minorities over a considerably long period of time, it has torn into the western narrative that there is "religious intolerance in India." In fact, by relying on multiple frameworks and models, the report found that minorities are given more rights than the majority community in the country and there is complete inclusivity. It cites constitutional provisions like Articles 29 and 30 that ensure that minorities can practice and propagate their religion as well as open their own educational institutions to prove that the very fundamentals of Indian polity are in favour of minorities. It also states two important reasons why India has topped the list of inclusiveness- (i) only in the Constitution of India are there special and exclusive provisions for the cultural and educational promotion of religious minorities; (ii) India is the country where there is no ban on any sects of any religions, unlike in many other countries.

Another interesting fact about the Global Minority Report is that it does not limit itself to a few statistical findings. It poses some pertinent questions that forces one to view the issues of minorities through a serious prism. It asks if the predominant aim of a religion is to build a society that is based on ethics and values, should religions that have an expansionist view be encouraged? It argues how such an approach can even result in cultural colonisation. Another question that it has raised is how do certain religions insist on not using images and forms when every idea from the ancient time to the present modern era has been expressed through images, forms, and symbols? Several such questions follow to which there are no easy answers. However, it has opened the possibility for wider debate and discussion on these topics.

Further, the report has exposed several nations that often take high moral ground in criticising other nations for ill-treating their minorities. It pointed out that many of these nations who have taken on the self-proclaimed role of a protector do not have a single leader from any of their minority communities and the oath of allegiance that the leaders take often has a majoritarian religious connotation to it. The report has also rightly pointed out that banning any sects is against the idea of secularism that the western nations have been propounding for so long.

An important aspect that makes this report stand out from the West is that it acknowledges the areas that India needs to work on and does not try to portray a picture that has no blemishes. It states that though India's minority model essentially focuses on the promotion of diversity, what is needed is in fact a rationalisation of the current policies to ensure that both the majority and minority have equal rights. If this is not done, at the earliest, the report warns that there can be long-term consequences as the discontent will keep on simmering.

In light of these findings, it may not be wrong to argue that the Global Minority Report and the USCIRF could not have come at a better time. While the former brings forth the importance of understanding cultural complexities when analysing a country, the latter is a reminder of how the West does not have any qualms in coming out with a report based on orchestrated claims and isolated incidents to suit an already set narrative. A comparative study of these two reports will hopefully encourage other nations to add their perspectives to it and a report may finally emerge that studies the globe without any inherent biases. In the end, as argued in the report there will be truly equality for minorities only if religion remains a private affair of the citizens.

(Lekshmi Parameswaran is a researcher and writer based in New Delhi. Her twitter profile is @lekshmip.)

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of OneIndia and OneIndia does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.