- The Hindu majority in the country, especially the right-leaning proponents, would want us to believe that they are under threat from other communities who are assumed to have gradually increased their numbers over the decades. Of course, several communities representing sects and subsects dotting the entire gamut of Hindu religion need no further elaboration. Within the Hindu religion and communities, many sects make it labyrinthine in look and also pose tremendous challenges vis-à-vis the caste conundrum that we are so familiar with. Little wonder, realizing so much can be milked from this aspect, the political class representing different caste permutations and combinations have assiduously built up vote banks leading to such complex equations.
PC: The Hindu
- Undeniably, the right-wing proponents are convinced about the narration being bandied of how Muslims and other minority communities have increased their numbers. Especially, the vexed issue of conversions that never goes out of conversation in the country. Nonetheless, the statistics show that the Hindu majority is under no threat from conversions. The High Courts should know this basic data point of all the constitutional institutions. As such, can an untruth told loud enough and often enough prevail over the truth? Sadly, this danger is very real today captured by the phrase – post-truth world. But in this very world, many institutions have been designated to fight on behalf of factuality. Let’s delve deep to infer this phenomenon.
- In the Indian setup, constitutional courts play a vital role in this fight. So, when their observations fly in the face of black-and-white data or argue a subjective morality instead of objective precedents in case law, it is both disappointing and dangerous. The recent Allahabad HC flying the bogey of Hindus being in danger of becoming a minority falls squarely into this worrying category. There is no arguing with India’s fertility transition. Overall Total Fertility Rate (TFR) has already reached below replacement level, Muslims are recording a much faster fertility decline than Hindus, and the definitive convergence between the two means that Hindus’ huge majority is impenetrable. Between 1992-93 and 2019-21, Muslim TFR dropped 2 points to 2.4.
PC: News9live
- The Hindu TFR dropped 1.3 points to 2. Diving deeper, only the wilfully blind will miss that the real cause of fertility diversity is not religion but region. Deeper still, Hindu TFR in Bihar (2.88) is higher than Muslim TFR in Karnataka (2.05), because it is educational, social, and economic backwardness that results in higher fertility. There is also the issue of judges frequently hitting the headlines with oral observations that belong better in their living rooms than in constitutional courts. Remember, patriarchal and medieval mindsets still prevailing among the learned judges of the higher courts may unpleasantly influence lower courts. Stereotypes and strife have enough promoters already. Our courts should champion dispassion and reason.
