My Letter to the Chief Justice of India

My Letter to the Chief Justice of India,

Supreme Court, New Delhi.

I have addressed the following letter to the CJI. The letter is sent by Speed Post. 

Copies have been sent by ordinary post to The President of India, Shri Arun Jaitley, BJP Offices in New Delhi, Shri Ram Madhav (RSS) and Dr. Praveenbhai Togadiya (VHP)

18th November 2013

The Chief Justice of India
Supreme Court
Tilak Marg, New Delhi 110001

Your Lordship,

        Sub: Prayer for stopping the 

                Subversion of our Constitution

Hindu Voice is a registered Monthly magazine, published in English and Hindi, since April 2002, espousing the cause of Hindutva. We have subscribers all over the world, to whom copies are sent every month by post.
 

I am concerned at the blatant subversion/violation of our constitution, by our Central and State Governments. Hence I am writing to you, requesting for remedial measures.
 

Enclosed is  a copy of a letter dated 31st October 2013, from the CPIO and the Under Secretary to the Govt. of India, New Delhi, addressed to a reader of Hindu Voice, Shri Anil Shantaram Gudekar, giving information under the RTI Act, 2005, on Articles 29, 30, and 350 A&B.
 

Article 29 of our Constitution titled ‘Protection of interests of minorities’ says: “Any section of the citizens residing in the territory of India or any part thereof having a distinct language, script or culture of its own shall have the right to conserve the same”. The Article does not talk about ‘Muslims’ or ‘Christians’  or religion, but only about ‘language, script or culture’. So, the question of ‘religious minority’ does not arise at all.
 

I am a Tamilian (from Tuticorin) and am settled in Mumbai since January 1970. Article 29 gives me the right to conserve my ‘language, script or culture’. Looking at the diversity of our nation (with different castes, languages, scripts, life styles, etc), the framers of our Constitution have prudently inserted Article 29, with a view to strengthening national integration.
 

However, this Article 29 meant for protecting the ‘language, script or culture’ has been distorted to give it a religious (read communal) colour. The Article is twisted to mean only Muslims and Christians, against the intention of our Constitution framers. The term ‘language, script or culture’ is given a go by and the term ‘religious minorities’ has taken its place.
 

Further this right to conserve the ‘language, script or culture’ is denied to those who have settled in J&K, Nagaland, Mizoram, etc. from other parts of our country, by the majority community there. On the contrary, the majority in these states are still treated as a minority.
 

This is a subversion of our Constitution by the continuous governments at the Centre and in the States.
 

Further, the Govt. of India has enacted a law - National Commission for  Minorities Act, 1992, without defining the word ‘minority’. However, under this act, the Govt. has declared five religious communities - Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Bhuddists and Parsis - as minorities. 
 

Article 15 (1) of our constitution says: “The State shall not discriminate against any citizen on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth or any of them”.
 

When the constitution prohibits any discrimination of the citizens on the basis of religion, how can a law be enacted discriminating people on the basis of religion? Hence, the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992 is unconstitutional.
 

First, the Govt. of India has snatched away the rights available to me as a linguistic minority in Maharashtra and has wrongly conferred it on religious minorities, i.e. Muslims and Christians, violating Article 29 of our Constitution.
 

Second, by enacting a law - National Commission for  Minorities Act, 1992 - the Govt. of India has violated Article 15 (1) of the Constitution.
I therefore pray to your Lordship:
 

(1)     To declare that the National Commission for  Minorities Act, 1992 is ultra vires Article 15 (1) of our Constitution.
 

(2)     To declare unconstitutional the pronouncement of our Prime Minister that ‘Minorities, particularly Muslims, must have the first claim on our resources’ made on 9th Dec. 2006 at the National Development Council Meeting in New Delhi.
 

(3)     To ban all reservations by the Central and State Governments, made on the basis of religion, violating Article 15 of our Constitution.
 

(4)     To order all state governments to wind up their Minority Affairs Ministry, or instruct them that the MAM should protect and conserve the ‘distinct language, script or culture’ of people of other states settled in their states, and no religious tone should be attached to MAM.
 

(5)     To order all political parties that any reference to religious minorities amounts to dividing the citizen on the basis of religion and is a violation of our Constitution and hence it should be stopped forthwith.
 

(6)     To declare that all the schemes, special privileges and monetary benefits given to anyone on the basis of religion and all pronouncements made favouring religious minorities, either by the Central or State Governments, are null and void.
 

(7)     To ban the establishment of “Special Courts” for speedy trial of Muslims, and also to ban all Sharia courts.
 

(8)     To order the abolition of Minority Commissions established by all state governments on religious basis.
 

(9)     To ban the establishment of ‘Minority Cells’ based on religions, by all political parties.
 

(10)     To ban the appointment of any Committee, present or in future, to recommend welfare schemes for the benefit of any section of the citizens on the basis of religion.
 

Your Lordship will understand that ours is a secular nation, and anything done on the basis of religion is against the canon of secularism enshrined in our constitution. But the Govt. of India is tomtoming about secularism and at the same time is providing special privileges to a section of the people purely on the basis of religion. This is just oxymoron, apart from being unconstitutional. Also, discrimination on the basis of religion is against the canons of Justice, Equality and Fraternity as enshrined in the Preamble to our Constitution.
 

I hope your Lordship will take this letter as a PIL, hear my appeal favourably and grant my prayers.

Yours truly
(P. Deivamuthu)
Editor, Printer & Publisher
Hindu Voice

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