Sunday, June 15, 2008

Minority and Majority

A minority when under sudden focus and attention will feel a disruption of the normal flow of life.There is a sudden collapse of everything that was taken for granted.
There will be strategising to develop a reaction if the minority is a propertied
one.In the case of a minority with meagre resources,the disruption will be accompanied by a feeling of confusion and fear.If the minority has migrated into its present inhabitation,there will be reasons for thinking about moving back.What happens when the minority is a part of the local ethos but has adopted different practices and customs.
If a minority which has placed itself in a position of power and when its time is up,it resorts to rallying the majority around its own customs and practices,how can it be justified?In older times,this minority had no incentive to rally the majority as the majority was under its hold.

When a minority from outside slowly works itself into positions of influence through industry,is the majority justified in trying to win back its influence by unfair means.If the minority has used unfair methods to acquire influence,are the majority justified in using unfair means to claw back to influence.Should the majority allow its culture and language to die a slow death,because a minority has planted itself in power.
The obvious route for a minority to settle in peace,if it has moved into newer areas and also positions of influence,would be to keep its practices separate from the local practices.There should be a participation in the local practices.
If the minority has totally different practices and customs,it is obvious that the minority will separate religion from commerce as it is surrounded by the majority.the business interests will be primary.
In a situation where there exists common strands,the two practices inevitably intermingle and a composite culture develops.Should that be used to suggest and promote an ideology that it is all one and the same.Should the separate practices be sought to retain their separateness?
The problems arise when an uniformity is sought to be given to all of these complex interactions of a millennium and more.
What is wrong in developing an unity among the disparate practitioners?The problem is when the unity is being sought to be developed by one particular minority among all the innumerable groups.If the rss were to try to invite the various caste organisations into a great organisation,the enterprise to develop unity would look plausible.
The goal is where the actual problem arises.If the goal is a reduction of fractiousness wherever it exists,it is a laudable one.
Instead,a big calumny that the interests of the various groups are at peril is being propagated.Each of the caste organisations is well organised in one or the other areas and are well established from time immemorial.The rss has been trying to portray its insecurities as that of all of the other caste organisations.It is being assisted by whichever group has a reason to feel insecurity.
Political power is in the hands of the caste organisations.Why does the rss need to promote the bjp when the power is already in the hands of the caste hindu.The answer is that the rss wants a particular caste to hold the reins of power.
What the rss is involved in is propagation of its type of religion,accompanied by the pretense that it is actually already propagated.The religion of the rss has crept into the south and to the hinterland to an extent.

What the religion of the rss needs is a certification that it is a minority.That will reduce the fear within this section.

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