ABSTRACT
The minority question (particularly the Muslim question) began in the second half of the 19th century, especially after the foundation of the Indian National Congress. The Congress from its foundational years had begun to demand Indian representation in the imperial, legislative and municipal councils of the colonial state premised on the British liberal principle of citizenship. The Congress perceived it as an instrument of political modernity for India based on the British pattern of liberalism, democracy and good governance, which essentially meant focus on individualism and application of rule of law transcending the primordial relations of religion, caste and region.
Since 1950, the development of capitalism has created two contradictory trends in contemporary India: first, there is a political perpetuation for religious rights as a sacred cornerstone of the secular state; second, there is a growing secularization of the society under the expanding impact of the market. While the first is political in nature, the second is economic. The political perpetuation of religious rights is more out of electoral politics than for the development of healthy national life or for allaying the fears of minorities. No doubt, there is one genuine reason for its continuation and that is that the minorities themselves have not come out in the streets against such religious rights – neither have other constituents of society come forward.
