Minorities in Contemporary India

This book is a comprehensive study of the two prominent religious minorities, Muslims and Christians, in India. In general, a minority is a non-dominant group, numerically inferior, having much less hold on the power structures within a nation but possessing its own distinct racial, religious, ethnic, cultural or linguistic characteristics which it wishes to preserve. This book attempts to enumerate the present day status that these two religious minorities enjoy in the country, which declares itself a "Sovereign Socialist Secular Democratic Republic". In order to provide a truer understanding of these two minorities, the author traces their history, life and progress right from their origin in this very land as its integral and inalienable part till the present times. Further, in enumerating the present day condition of Christians and Muslims the author presents their current non-so-happy economic, educational and social situation, owing partly to their unfortunate past and partly to the manifold discriminations they face at the administrative and political levels. Therefore the book looks into the many safeguards and protective discriminations offered in the constitution of the country which is in tune with the declarations of the United Nations on minorities. The primary concern of the book, while talking about the various contributions the two communities have made to the nation, is to deal with the growing religious bigotry and communalization of society by the votaries of "Majoritarianism" and "Religious Nationalism" in which the worst sufferers are always the minorities. It is only in the nation’s total and unbiased commitment to its constitution and to the policy of secularism, that the author sees the possibility for India to survive as a unified nation. Further, the author strongly protests any attempt for homogenization of the Indian society into any one particular religious or cultural form and argues for the preservation of the rich diversities and religious pluralism that are the halmarks of the nation. And in order to reduce communal tensions and spread of religious antagonism before they devore the whole nation, the book suggests promotion of interfaith interactions and inter-religious dialogue to achieve understanding and harmony among people of different faiths.