A Fierce Showdown Between Owaisi and Rijiju Over the Definition of ‘Minority’: A Major Battle Erupts, Ranging from Population Statistics to Article 30.

On this sensitive issue of who is a ‘minority’ in India and what should be its status, there has once again been a heated exchange of words between AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi and Union Minority Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju. The controversy started when the Union Minister compared the Muslim population in the country to the microscopic Parsi community. On this, Owaisi hit back sharply and alleged that the government is spreading propaganda as part of a well-planned strategy to deprive Muslims of the fundamental rights granted under Article 30 of the Constitution.

Rijiju’s argument: “The population of Muslims is equal to the sixth largest country in the world, then why a status like Parsis?”

While addressing a conference, Union Minister Kiren Rijiju gave a big statement regarding population imbalance. He said, “If we look at the Muslim population in India as a separate country, it can become the sixth largest country in the world. In contrast, the population of the Parsi community is only around 52,000, which is like a small town or village. But the surprising thing is that in the country, both Parsis and Muslims have been given minority status by keeping them on the same scale.”

Rijiju further claimed that minority communities receive more budgetary funds and special assistance from the government than the majority Hindu community. He sarcastically said, “Whatever the Hindus get, the minorities get it. But the special benefits that the minorities get, they do not get to the Hindus.”

Owaisi’s mathematical counterattack: “Is 79.8% bigger or 14%? The minister is spreading confusion”

Asaduddin Owaisi got enraged at this statement of the Union Minister and asked a direct question of mathematics on the social media platform ‘X’. Comparing the population of Hindus and Muslims in the country, Owaisi wrote, “79.8% is bigger or 14%? If Hindus are the majority community in this country, then every non-Hindu group will naturally and constitutionally be called a minority community.” Owaisi alleged that the minister was deliberately setting such a narrative that the constitutional rights of Muslims could be weakened.

After this counterattack, the Union Minister also refused to back down. Describing Owaisi as the biggest leader of Muslims in India, he taunted that today’s Congress has completely transformed into a ‘Muslim League’ party. Rijiju also added that every religion has flourished in India, but if seen in percentage terms, only the population of Hindus and Parsis has registered a decline.

What does the Constitution of India say? Why is the word ‘minority’ complicated?

The most interesting thing amidst this entire controversy is that the Constitution of India gives strong protection to religious and linguistic minorities, but the word ‘minority’ is not clearly defined anywhere in the entire Constitution.

• Article 29: This article gives full guarantee to the protection of the language, script and culture of minorities.

• Article 30: It provides the extremely important fundamental right to minorities to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice.

The framers of the Constitution had deliberately left the responsibility of deciding the exact definition of this word to the executive i.e. the government. Legally, the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992 (NCM Act) gives the central government the power to notify any community as a minority. Under this law, currently 6 religious communities in the country – Muslim, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist, Parsi and Jain – have minority status at the national level. Due to this status, these communities get direct benefits of scholarships, schemes and Waqf protection of the Ministry of Minority Welfare.

Demand for state-wise status is rising: Despite being ‘majority’ in these states, Hindus are ‘minority’

For some time now, the debate has intensified in the country that minority status should be decided on the basis of state-wise population rather than at the national level. Many thinkers argue that in Jammu and Kashmir or the North-Eastern states, where Muslim or Christian population is in majority, Hindus should get the benefit of minority and not the majority there.

If we look at the official figures of the 2011 census, the population of Hindus is very low in many states and union territories of India, which is as follows:

This is the reason that from the Supreme Court to the political circles, discussions have started on whether there is a need to redefine the definition of the word ‘minority’ in the future.