‘India is persecuting its minorities... people must speak up’

We have a right to peacefully gather, which is a fundamental right. But now, it has become difficult to organise a gathering in most parts of India. It requires the police permission, leaving the right to them. This must be overturned — Aakar Patel, columnist and the chair of Amnesty International India

Rachana Ramesh | NT

Bengaluru: Comparing Pakistan, which has a state religion, to the secular state of India, Aakar Patel, a well-known columnist and the chair of Amnesty International India, said, “There is a democratisation of violence against minorities happening in India.”

Giving the Annual Vijay Nambisan Lecture, Aakar brought to notice the many atrocities happening against minorities in the country, while also throwing light on the worse-than-ever economic condition. Aakar Patel pointed out certain laws in the Pakistani constitution.

He said, “Pakistan wanted to make their public not only modern or scientific but also have an ethical and moral stature through faith. But this was difficult to convert into law.” He continued to point out that while India is deemed a secular state, it is behaving much like a country with a state religion, persecuting its minorities.

“While the law in Pakistan bars a non-Muslim from being the prime minister, in India, even without a law, it is inconceivable,” he said and provided examples of the lack of representation of the Muslim community in the seats of parliament. He also spoke of interfaith marriages involving conversions being “banned” in over seven states, since 2018, including Karnataka.

“An interfaith marriage must be applied for 30 days in advance at the district magistrate. They will be deciding whether the marriage can go ahead. If he or she finds coercion, which has a fairly vague definition and is not defined under law, he has the right to not approve the marriage,” Aakar said and added how the right does not lie with the citizens.

He brought light to the topic of the triple talaq order and questioned, “If a Muslim man is accused of triple talaq, he will not be committing the offense as the divorce is not considered valid, but would still be considered a crime.”

He also spoke of the beef ban, which has been prominent only since 2015, and how the burden of proof in such cases is on the accused. Bringing out the example of a Gujarat Muslim man who was sentenced to be in jail for 10 years on the suspicion that he served beef at his daughter’s wedding, he pointed out how the police in the particular case had not proved the meat to be beef.

He provided many statistics on the economic breakdowns happening within the nation and compared them with other South Asian countries, such as the participation of the women in the workforce or the reduction of jobs in the manufacturing industry.

Addressing the topic of the talk, Aakar said, one must first be aware of what they have in hand and where it has come from. Pointing at the audience, he said, “We have a right to peacefully gather, which is a fundamental right. But now, it has become difficult to organise a gathering in most parts of India.

It requires the police permission, leaving the right to them,” he said and added that this must be overturned. He concluded by saying his optimism stems from the unsustainable happenings, which he believes will eventually wipe out and people, in large and small groups, must speak out.