Vice-Chancellor of National Law University, Patna, Faizan Mustafa sought to counter what he described as myth of minority appeasement and pointed out that even Hindus are minorities in certain states and union territories.
Prof. Mustafa was delivering the Justice Umamaheswaram Memorial Lecture on ‘Indian Judiciary’s Response to the Rights of Linguistic and Religious Minorities’ at the University of Hyderabad on Thursday.
He said that the Supreme Court had stated that the definition of a minority was to be determined at the state level and that Hindus were religious minorities in “seven or eight states and union territories.” He added that there were hundreds of minority institutions in the country run by Hindus.
Referring to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s recent remarks in the State Assembly about Urdu, including a pejorative term he reportedly used, Prof. Mustafa invoked Article 30 of the Constitution, which deals with linguistic minorities. He said, “If a Hindi-speaking Brahmin opens a Hindi-medium school in Hyderabad or Kochi, it will be a minority institution.”
Prof. Mustafa asserted that Urdu was an Indian language shaped by the contributions of numerous Hindus, such as Chakbast and Anand Narain Mulla. He argued that portraying Urdu as exclusively a Muslim language was incorrect, noting that a Muslim from Kerala would speak Malayalam, while one from Tamil Nadu would speak Tamil. He also called for accountability regarding languages that have “disappeared over the past 75 years,” including Braj and Awadhi.
He cited Nathuram Godse’s justification for assassinating Mahatma Gandhi, stating that one of the reasons Godse gave was Gandhiji’s love for Hindustani.
Prof. Mustafa emphasised that achieving Viksit Bharat, as envisioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, would be impossible if minorities were left behind. He noted that the framers of the Constitution were mindful of including groups, not just individuals, in the nation’s progress.
Criticising the implementation of the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in Uttarakhand, he argued that a UCC that does not abolish the Hindu Undivided Family system was not meaningful.
Quoting from significant court judgments, he stated, “minority rights are the conscience of the nation” and “an absolute right.” Invoking the Kesavananda Bharati case, he said, “The Supreme Court ruled that minority rights are part of the basic structure of the Constitution. And if they are part of the basic structure, Parliament, as long as the Constitution stands, does not have the power to remove them through Constitutional amendment.”
Published – February 20, 2025 09:06 pm IST
