Wednesday 14 February, 2007

Myths concerning Minority

status for Jainism clarified

Having debunked the myth that Jainism is part of Hinduism, (See previous articles) now we shall take up the issue of minority status for Jainism as the next issue. Once again certain fringe elements have propagated some myths regarding this issue.

Myth # 1 – Jain Community is rich and powerful facing no threat. Hence there is no need to obtain minority status, which will not accrue any benefits.

The Truth – Readers are suggested to go through this link which shows the benefits that are likely to accrue by obtaining the minority status for Jains.




Myth # 2 – Minority status for Jainism is unpatriotic and will undermine the unity of India and Hindus.

The Truth – Minority Status is a constitutional right conferred by the Indian Constitution. Hence there is nothing illegal or unpatriotic about claiming the minority status for Jains. Jains (or for that matter any minorities) are as patriotic about India as anybody. Jain scriptures mention faithfulness to the King (Nation in modern context) as one of the essential virtue. Jains have contributed to India and its culture more in proportion to their numerical strength. The Right-wing fundamentalists have a perverted view of Patriotism i.e. adherence to their ideology only. Anyone not falling within their ideological parameters is branded as unpatriotic. This is similar to the Hitler’s version of patriotism by equating it to Nazism. We need to guard against such false propagandas.

Myth # 3 – Advocating Minority status and claiming that Jains are different from Hindus is motivated by hatred towards Hinduism.

The Truth – This is a deliberate attempt by some fundamantalists to link the issue of seperate identity of Jains with anti-Hinduism. This issue has also been linked to Patriotism, division of society, discipline etc. This is a blatant attempt to emotionally blackmail the Jain community, with a sinister agenda.
Hence it is necessary to clarify the stand of Jains unequivocally -
  • Jains are not against Hindus nor Hinduism.
  • Jains are not against Hindu Gods or Hindu Texts.

In fact Jains have a great respect for their Hindu friends. While interacting with our Hindu friends, we have never felt that we are talking to someone different. In fact all of my dear Hindu friends to whom I have explained this issue, respected and understood my position. They have come to appreciate Jainism and its philosophy in much better way. Rather than creating division it has resulted in proper bonding and mutual respect.
Myth # 4 – Indian Constitution does not define the word “minority”.

The Truth – This is a ploy to divert the issue. Following are the facts of Indian Constitution and its references to Minorities:-
  • One of the underlying principles of the Constitution were laid down by Jawaharlal Nehru in his Objectives Resolution : “The minorities, backward and tribal areas, depressed and other backward classes, shall be provided adequate safeguards” ;
  • According to Gandhiji, the claim of a country to civilization depends on the treatment it extends to the minorities
  • The Chairman of the Minorities Committee for Indian Constitution was Harendra Coomar Mookerjee.
  • Minority Rights flow from Articles 14,15,19(1)(2) 21, & 26 (a).
  • Article 29 of the Indian Constitution ` any Section of Indian Citizens having a distinctive language, script or culture of its own shall have the right to conserve the same'
  • Article 30 Clause 1 - that all minorities, whether religious or linguistic shall have the right to establish and administer Educational Institutions of their choice.
  • Article 350 A: Facilities for instruction in mother-tongue at primary stage and Article 350 B: Provision for a Special officer for linguistic minorities.

Secondly, Supreme Court has laid down, what defines minority in following cases:-
  • S.R. Das C.J., suggesting the techniques of arithmetic tabulation, held that the minority means a "community, which is numerically less than 50 percent" of the total population.
  • This statistical criterion prevail with the Kerela High Court also which, in A.M.Patroni v. Kesavan , defined minority to mean the same thing as it meant to the Supreme Court.
  • D. A. V. College v. State Of Punjab , it was observed that, a linguistic minority for the purpose of art. 30(1) is one which must at least have a separate spoken language.
On the basis it can be seen that courts in various judgment have clearly defined the word minority.

Thirdly, the Government as well as the Parliament have recognised the rights of Minorities thru the following:-
  • Establishing National Commission for Minorities through National Commission for Minorities Act 1992
  • Establishing National Minorities Development and Finance Corporation (NMDFC).
  • Establishing special programme known as 'Prime Minister's 15 Points Programme for Minorities' since 1993.

Thus it can be seen that Indian Constitution has ample references w.r.t. minorities. The fact that Indian constitution does not define that specific word does not mean that the word does not exists. Indian constitution also does not define the word - "Justice" , "equality" although it is mentioned many times. Does that mean that Justice and equality is not part of India???
As far as the issues of Minorities and difference from Hinduism are concerned, both are related and in the spirit of Article 29 i.e. "any Section of Indian Citizens having a distinctive language, script or culture of its own shall have the right to conserve the same
"

Myth # 5 – Jains are not united. Let Jains unite first and then talk of minority status.

The Truth – This is an old argument used to deny the rights of others. Unity or disunity - diversity of views is a fact of life - we will deal with it our way. No one can try to steal our identity on the plea that - "first you unite, then we will give you your rights.” This same ploy was used by British. They denied Independence for India on the plea of disunity between Hindus and Muslim. But that did not deter Gandhiji to give a clarion call of "Do or Die" asking the British categorically to "leave India to Gods and its fate."

To those who are playing unity card, please answer these questions first:-
1) How will one achieve unity within Jains when there is no clarity as to who is a Jain and who is not ?
2) How will one achieve unity when one is unable to define a distinct identity for Jainism ?
3) How will one achieve unity when you claim Jainism is a sect/ offshoot of Hinduism ? If so, Swetambers and Digambers might as well be sects of Hinduism. Then where is the question of unity between sects ?
By the same logic, to achieve unity between Swetambers and Digambers, you will say first let Swetambers achieve between themselves - Sthanakvasis and Derawasis should unite first. Same with Terapanth and Bisapanth for Digambers. Then there would be a problem of unity of sampradays in the sub-sects. Then there would be problem of unity between various Gurus. This is an endless problem and at the end of the day, we would be achieving nothing.
Hinduism prides itself in diversity - 33 crores deva's, dozens of sects, hundreds of sub-sects, thousands of Gurus - and still it can call itself a dharma and a way of life. Same goes for Christainity - Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox, Syrian, born-again, Jesuits etc etc - and still it can call itself a religion. Same goes for Islam.
Then why not Jainism ? Why is its right to exists as a religion snatched in Gujarat? That too by an unconstitutional silly law?
We will grapple the problem of unity, but the need of the hour is to save Jainism. If Jainism itself does not exist what problem of unity we will resolve?
Yes, it would have been great that if all were to speak up in one voice - for Jainism as a separate religion as well as for minority status. But if some sections of Jains are not with us, this cannot be an argument to snatch our rights. Are we to accept division of our beloved motherland because of some people want a separate homeland (Kashmiris and Notheast)? Can some say that you don't deserve to be a nation because you are a disunited lot? Maybe then tomorrow UN will kick us out of membership because of a few separatists. Can we take this lying down?
Then how do we accept this with our dear Jainism? It is indeed shameful that some are mere silent spectators. But this cannot discredit someone who is fighting for our rights.


Jai Jinendra
Anish Shah

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is really an interesting post...thanks for sharing all of this...and since the festival of colors is round the corner i'd also like you to take a peek into my bog on Holi Greetings and enjoy all that it's filled up with!!!

Arun said...

Please forward this message to Jai Achrya’s and request him to incorporate the subject of need of "Minority Status for Jain" in his Pravachans as some people are trying to sabotage this move.
There are some misconceptions regarding the minority status given to Jain. Please pass on the following message to any Jain who have doubt or don’t know “Why minority status is important for Jainism”. Also you can post this message in any forum:
1) There is wrong impression that minority status is being asked by Jains for some reservation or benefits. It is not SC/ ST/ OBC quota. In fact, being minority will rule Jains out of reservation as religion based reservation cannot be given in India.
2) It is being sought by Jains as this will give them distinct identity to religiously different group like sikhs, parsis, muslims etc.
3) This is a very old demand, more than100 years, by Jains and anyone who knows about Jainism will agree that it is entirely different religion.
4) Jain can manage their temples, educational institutes etc without government interference. And can help poor Jains in more effective way.

It will take a long time to discuss the essence of Jainism. But the main differences between Jainism and Hinduism are:

1) Jains don't believe that someone has created or can destroy the Universe.
2) There is no concept of Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva (the Supreme gods of Hindus) in Jainism.
3) Jains consider 24 "Tirthankars" as their supreme gods. They have taken birth as human being and then attain "Moksha" by virtue of their leaving wordly possession and "tap", and not by worshiping any dietary.
4) The scared books of Hindus (like Gita, Puran etc) are totally different from that of Jain sacred books (Jinvani etc).
5) The main teachings of Jainism are vastly different from other religions.
6) The "Dev" in Hindus or “angels” in Muslims and Christianity, who lives in heaven, are immortals. While in Jainism all of them are mortal and die like any living being and take rebirth as human or in any other “gati”.
7) The philosophy of worship is also different. Worshiping in Hinduism believes in surrender to some higher entity, while Worshiping in Jainism is merely instrumental in self-realization. Emphasis is more on securing samyaktva i.e. rationality rather than ritualistic worship.
8) Click this link to know more: http://www.jaina.org/?Myths
The above mentioned points are the main attributes which signifies the differences between any two religions (Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Jainism etc).
There are hundreds of more differences between Jains and other religions. And that's why Osho has said that Jainism is unique and very different from any other religion.

Arun said...


Please forward this message to Jai Achrya’s and request him to incorporate the subject of need of "Minority Status for Jain" in his Pravachans as some people are trying to sabotage this move.

There are some misconceptions regarding the minority status given to Jain. Please pass on the following message to any Jain who have doubt or don’t know “Why minority status is important for Jainism”. Also you can post this message in any forum:
There is wrong impression that minority status is being asked by Jains for some reservation or benefits. It is not SC/ ST/ OBC quota. In fact, being minority will rule Jains out of reservation as religion based reservation cannot be given in India. It is being sought by Jains as this will give them distinct identity to religiously different group like sikhs, parsis, muslims etc.
This is a very old demand, more than100 years, by Jains and anyone who knows about Jainism will agree that it is entirely different religion.

It will take a long time to discuss the essence of Jainism. But the main differences between Jainism and Hinduism are:
1) Jains don't believe that someone has created or can destroy the Universe.
2) There is no concept of Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva (the Supreme gods of Hindus) in Jainism.
3) Jains consider 24 "Tirthankars" as their supreme gods. They have taken birth as human being and then attain "Moksha" by virtue of their leaving wordly possession and "tap", and not by worshiping any dietary.
4) The scared books of Hindus (like Gita, Puran etc) are totally different from that of Jain sacred books (Jinvani etc).
5) The main teachings of Jainism are vastly different from other religions.
6) The "Dev" in Hindus or “angels” in Muslims and Christianity, who lives in heaven, are immortals. While in Jainism all of them are mortal and die like any living being and take rebirth as human or in any other “gati”.
7) The philosophy of worship is also different. Worshiping in Hinduism believes in surrender to some higher entity, while Worshiping in Jainism is merely instrumental in self-realization. Emphasis is more on securing samyaktva i.e. rationality rather than ritualistic worship.
8) Click this link to know more: http://www.jaina.org/?Myths
The above mentioned points are the main attributes which signifies the differences between any two religions (Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Jainism etc).
There are hundreds of more differences between Jains and other religions. And that's why Osho has said that Jainism is unique and very different from any other religion.