[Reader-list] India on a list of countries which have failed to protect its religious minorities adequately

[Kshmendra Kaul]

Agree with Rakesh that whether or not any USA body has the business is not pertinent. 
 
We in India should be thankful that someone or the other is constantly reminding us on these issues. 
 
We in India should be ashamed that we have placed ourselves in a position that others need to remind us of our failings.
 
Also agree with Rakesh that Pakistan is no benchmark. 
 
There cannot be any benchmark in justifying failure of the country towards it's citizens. There cannot be any competition in such matters. That would be ridiculous.
 
Totally disagree with Rakesh's attitude of highlighting only the Indian Muslim case.  That is counter-productive and guaranteed to provoke equally blinkered reactions and responses and lead to meaningless bickering.
 
In India, experiences should have taught us that being a 'religious minority' is an identity that can vary from state to state and is not the exclusive  preserve of any single religion. Also that, 'religion' might not always dictate the 'minority status' but might be tagged to economic-class, caste etc, each with it's own unique set of abuses suffered. 
 
In India, we might also like to consider that in some scenarios, 'minority numbers' lay seige to cornering for themselves exclusively or largely the Freedoms and Rights that should be available to all citizens.
 
Kshmendra 
 
 
 

--- On Thu, 8/13/09, Rakesh Iyer <rakesh.rnbdj at gmail.com> wrote:


From: Rakesh Iyer <rakesh.rnbdj at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Reader-list] India on a list of countries which have failed to protect its religious minorities adequately
To: "Rajendra Bhat Uppinangadi" <rajen786uppinangady at gmail.com>
Cc: "sarai list" <reader-list at sarai.net>
Date: Thursday, August 13, 2009, 5:13 PM


Whether the US has any business to say it or not may be a different
question, but Indian Muslims have had a mixed record as far as their life in
India is concerned. And Murali ji, Pakistan is not the benchmark in every
field for India to achieve. That seems to be the case as far as you are
concerned.
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