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Why I fear Muslims will become second class citizens in Modi's India

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Md Hussain Rahmani
Md Hussain RahmaniJan 30, 2015 | 23:27

Why I fear Muslims will become second class citizens in Modi's India

The ongoing debate surrounding a possible removal of the words "secular" and "socialist" from the Preamble of the Constitution appears to stem from the BJP's brazen belief that it needn't pander to these principles to win a majority in future elections. 

The party seems to believe that if it can win a majority by garnering enough Hindu votes in a communally surcharged atmosphere, what is the need for carrying on with such tags? Moreover, doing away with them will pave the way for the creation of a Hindu Rashtra, which seems to be the larger goal for all Hindutva outfits. I have no doubt that Hindutva remains at the core of the BJP's ideology, too. No wonder they have become brazenly ambitious after their victory in the Lok Sabha elections last year. 

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Naturally, this has made the minority communities apprehensive that they will be politically marginalised. After all at the end of the day, democracy is a government by numbers.  

By commenting on Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut's demand for removing "secular" and "socialist" from the Preamble, Union telecommunications minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has given the debate an official sanctity. This clearly shows that the government wants the issue debated.

Since these two words were not the part of original Preamble as they were inserted by Indira Gandhi in 1976, the present regime could very well consider eliminating them given Narendra Modi's penchant for undoing much of what the Congress did in the past 60 years.  

Socialism has been on the death bed for a long time in a country which has embraced economic liberalisation with open arms, under successive governments. But the term "secular" has been the bedrock of Indian politics up until now and no government after 1976 ever tried to do away with it. Even the BJP's poster boy Atal Bihari Vajpayee wanted these principles to be part of the BJP's constitution. As the Preamble lays down the guiding principles behind our Constitution, the insertion of the words "secular" and "socialist" provides a psychological safeguard to citizens.  

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But then the last Lok Sabha election shattered many assumptions about Indian politics. For instance, the myth that no party can come to power without the support of minorities, was destroyed. Despite his development plank and the dreams he sold, Modi has been unable to wash off the taint of 2002 Gujarat riots. So it is highly unlikely that the largest minority community would have voted for the BJP in large numbers. Yet, the saffron party still managed a majority on its own in the Lok Sabha. This is a fact that both the Muslims and the BJP hesitate to acknowledge in public. 

The victory has also emboldened the Hindutva forces within and outside the government to push their saffron agenda. The BJP knows that all it needs to win elections is a communal polarisation. Intermittent communal violence, some contentious issues like Uniform Civil Code, Article 370, love jihad and ghar wapsi are good enough to keep the communal flame simmering.

Looking at the BJP's victory march in state after state, these issues are working for them right now. Hence it has been proven that minority votes are not necessarily required to form a government. Now my worst fear is: if my vote has become redundant for the ruling party, how would my existence matter to them? If the Preamble of the Constitution is also amended to suit their narrative of India, it would be a major psychological blow to the minorities and it perhaps might even make them feel like second class citizens.

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Last updated: January 30, 2015 | 23:27
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