Minorities

In any society, minority groups are
defined according to a particular social
context. In India the two most prominent minority groups are Muslims and
Christians. Muslims—about twelve percent of the population—are viewed with
suspicion, due to India’s troubled relations with Pakistan. Christians and
Muslims are viewed as having religious
loyalties that lie outside of India—
Mecca for Muslims, and Rome or
Jerusalem for Christians. These two
communities have been perceived very
differently from other religious communities, such as the Sikhs and the Jains,
who are part of the Indian cultural tradition. Cultural and political organizations espousing forms of Hindu
nationalism (Hindutva), particularly the
Rashtriya Svayamsevak Sangh and its
affiliates, have often stressed the “otherness” of these communities. Such
organizations have as their express
purpose the unification of Hindus
from all regions, castes, and backgrounds, but do so through criteria that
exclude these minorities.