Long after civilizations have passed, dead languages have a tendency to keep ideas alive. In Latin, ceteris paribus means "all other things being equal." For centuries the phrase has been used to explain theories behind the laws of economics, mathematics, science and nature. It explains that changes are often triggered by unrelated developments even if nothing else has changed. Alfred Marshall was the first economist to invoke ceteris paribus on consumer behaviour and the law of demand.
He proved that “if other things remain the same, the amount demanded increases with a fall in and diminishes with a rise in price.” He believed that demand is not a function of price only, but could be influenced by other factors such as population, taste, habits, income disparities and opportunities. Today ceteris paribus is the fulcrum around which Indian politics revolves. For example, “if other things remain the same,” a community or a group of potential political aspirants fighting for a minority tag by opportunistically compromising their composite religious and social lineage is the new normal.
Such an ugly Latin denomination drive surfaced last week in Karnataka, where the ruling Congress decided to suddenly concede the influential and prosperous Lingayat community’s long-standing demand to be considered a sub-religion under the broad Hindu umbrella; Chief Minister Siddaramaiah figured it would bring him not only huge political dividends in the coming Assembly elections but would also weaken the state leadership of the BJP, which has effectively copyrighted political Hinduism. The Karnataka Cabinet has recommended to the Centre that the Lingayat and Veerashaiva Lingayat communities be granted religious minority (sic) status.
On March 2, a seven-member committee headed by former High Court judge H N Nagamohan Das specified the sections under which a community could get the minority tag; the report advised, “Lingayats in Karnataka may be considered a religious minority.” “Veerashaivas, who consider Basavanna as Dharma Guru, vachanas as sacred text, wear Ishta Linga, and believe and follow Vachana tatva, may be considered as part of Lingayats.” Emboldened by a favourable political environment, Karnataka’s Kodava community too demanded a new religious tag for itself. In a cynical twist of political karma, netas have yet again used the executive and the legislature to create a brand new minority religion out of the Hindu majority. In the skewed arithmetic of Indian poll-craft, minority supersedes merit.
The bizarre contradiction is that the body of people which has been demanding the minority label claims to be Hindu, follows most Hindu practices and worships Hindu deities. Minority status is now a password to break into any complex electoral algorithm, or is like an Aadhaar card which offers freebies and privileges. For the past few decades, various communities have been demanding the minority tag from the Centre and state governments because such a nomenclature not only makes better political sense but affords more economic and social cachet. India has over a dozen minority communities, such as Muslims, Sikhs, Christians and Zoroastrians, under the banner. Buddhists and Jains were later added to the list. Constitutionally, any state can declare any group as a religious minority. In the Christian-dominated north-east, numerous tribal communities have been demanding such a status to enjoy welfare benefits from New Delhi.
It’s tragic that Hinduism, the majority religion, has become the victim of political adventurism and minority appeasement. Those leaders who profess secularism and claim to practise merit-based politics and governance are the ones who indulge in divisive designs and pay special attention to sections with a minority tag. A look at the advantages of belonging to the minority structure in India is revealing:
Most of the states provide reservation in government jobs for minorities.
Minority-run educational and professional institutions can offer admission to members of their own communities even if they do not qualify on merit.
Minority institutions are not subject to government scrutiny and can follow their own procedures.
Various departments of state and Central governments offer special welfare schemes to minorities.
All political parties reward their minority members with special oganisational and political posts to woo their communities.
Even various law-enforcement agencies tread carefully while dealing with suspects belonging to a minority community since any of the many Commissions and regulatory bodies to look after their welfare can raise a stink.
For long the Lingayats, like many other niche Hindu communities, have remained upset over not having the constitutional freedom and autonomy to manage the affairs of their religious and educational institutions. For example, in almost all Indian states, none of the minority establishments, including places of worship, are run or controlled by the state government while the management of Hindu temples is under state-appointed boards or administrators. A silent majority of Hindu opinion-makers is vexed with Hindu leaders in all the political parties for pandering to the minorities at the cost of their own deserving demands. For example, they feel that the BJP leadership, too, has chosen persons with suspect ideological loyalties from the minority communities as ministers and senior office-bearers both in the states and at the Centre. The Congress and other pseudo-secular parties had previously set the trend.
The excessive state and legal privileges enjoyed by various minority groups in India are provoking others to break away from mainstream Hinduism. Moreover, Hindus are denied minority status even in states where other religious groups, such as Christians or Muslims, are the majority. Hindus have also been demanding minority status in Jammu and Kashmir, which is being denied by the coalition state government in which the BJP is an influential partner. With six of the north-eastern states coming under the BJP standard, the non-Christian tribal sections are bound to revive their struggle for minority status.
In a country of around 1.25 billion Indians, where eight out of 10 persons have declared themselves Hindu, it is the mindset of the minority which defines the contours of politics and economics. French writer Francois Gautier angrily tweeted, ‘Why should @aamirkhan, a Muslim, play in most ancient & sacred of Hindu epics, the Mahabharata? Is @BJP4India Govt of @narendramodi going to be like the @INCIndia & just stand by in name of secularism??? Would Muslims allow a Hindu to play life of Mohamed?’ Lingayat political expediency indicates that it is not the minorities which are facing a threat to their identity and subsequent disintegration, but the majority in all its pluralist generosity of faith, which is in peril thanks to ceteris paribus. Hence, to paraphrase Orwell, in India all minorities are equal, but some minorities are more equal than others.