Devinder Sharma
Identity groups, as its name suggests, are made up of members of certain social groups based on a certain identity like ethnicity, caste, gender, position, language, region etc.
In almost every democracy, freedom to form associations and groups have been given to citizens as in the case of Indian Constitution under Article 19. This freedom is used by the various groups for attaining empowerment, representation and recognition. Further, many have used it as a tool to recover from various exclusion and denigration in a socio- economic plateau.
These groups are of many types, associated with many challenges which they are posing to democracy.
Firstly, linguistic groups which showed their strong presence especially in early independence years leading to reorganisation of states on the basis of language. Even in the contemporary times, linguistic groups which have huge potential in demanding economic boycott, separate states, anti-migrant policies.
Few examples can be seen in form of tension between Maharashtra and Karnataka over Belgaum District which is presently under Karnataka but claimed by Maharashtra on the linguistic ground. Also, Anti- Hindi agitation has shown an exponential rise, especially in Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.
Secondly, ethnic groups have their wide presence in India. Ethnicity has also been responsible for many massacres in history, most renown one is Hitler’s action against Jews.
In North-Eastern states of India, these ethnic groups have posed threat to national integrity by supporting the secessionist movement. Further Tamil Eelam movement can also be highlighted in this context.
Moreover, in our neighbour, hardcore Jihadist murdering bloggers in Bangladesh and prosecution of Sikhs and Hindus in Pakistan are some recent events on the radar, which has a multi-dimensional consequence on India also.
Religious groups, third in this category and has a strong presence in India because of deep affiliation of people towards religion. Being religious can’t be a threat to democracy however animosity towards other religion is surely a serious threat, seeds of which were sown by colonial rulers.
This religious animosity led to the partition of British India on religious grounds; however, this doesn’t halt the violence. India has witnessed myriad riots since independence.
Ghar Wapsi, a movement to revert converted Muslims to Hindus, Love Jihad etc has exacerbated religious harmony in the country. Moreover, the debate on Uniform Civil Code and opposition to triple Talaq are few recent events aggravating the situation and posing threats to the secular character of the Constitution. Lastly and perhaps most importantly, Khalistan movement demanding separate nation on religious grounds is worth mentioning, however, sobered in contemporary times.
Fourth, caste based groups, enrooted in the social structure of Indian society, which is divided into four Varna and various castes as a result, upper castes has claimed all privileges leaving lower one’s hapless. These divisions have given rise to various caste groups and so caste politics is the worst face of casteism in recent times.
Reservation is one of the hot issues of contemporary times. Jats, Marathas, Patels have demonstrated for their inclusion in OBCs, which has taken bad shape in form of violence destruction.
Even in the time of implementation of the Mandal Commission, wide protests and extreme violence was witnessed, spreading hatred among various castes.
Identity groups, with the advent of computer and Internet, are growing at a greater pace as social media is increasingly becoming a medium of spreading messages and eventually influencing people. Their exponential growth has a series of apprehensions for democracy.
These groups usually use the power of myths, cultural symbols and customs to claim superiority over others, hence becoming over sensitive and impatient resulting into violence many times.
This sensitivity can be traced in cases of opposition to various authors and filmmakers. James Laine’s Shivaji, Perumal Murugan’s Mathorubhagan are few examples. Further stopping Taslima Nasreen at Kolkata Book Fair can also be seen in this context.
Moreover, these groups lack an internal dialogue that means all members of a particular group may not be prescribing to all things. However, stereotype image is portrayed about the entire groups. Hence it may lead to police brutality, airport checks, negative campaigns in media and movies against everyone belonging to the group.
Another problem associated with identity groups is immortal nature as they keep breeding giving rise to new groups. Shiv Sena breaking into another group MNS and Hardik Patel to other splinter groups are good examples.
This fission can be attributed to internal leadership struggle. Further appeasement of one group encourages other groups to come on the surface as seen in the case of recent OBC reservation demands by Jats followed by Rajputs, Patel, and Marathas etc. Same can be emphasised in context competition among groups for socio-economic resources.
These arguments may seem to prove identity groups as culprits for creating instability in democracy, however, there are arguments which are enough to push the pendulum to the other extreme supporting identity groups and reckon on them for healthy democracy.
Voting rights for women, black civil rights, and protection of LGBT couldn’t have possible unless these people formed a group to assert their demands.
PIL filing by NGOs alone cannot cure all the injustice of the society. Victims themselves have to make their presence known through such groups.
These groups also find their importance when immoral artists in name of artistic freedom attempt to denigrate Indian caste-culture-religion. In such a scenario identity groups are only to oppose them.
Further, identity groups prevent any specific section to dominate all socio- economic resources. They help in deepening of democracy by peaceful protests and political mobilisations.
Moreover, they pursue reformist movements such as anti-liquor campaign, abolition of superstitions and black magic, gender inequality etc.
Hence identity groups are part and parcels, necessary ingredients of democracy. However, they do pose threat when resorting to violence. It’s the duty of state, society, media and individuals to channelise their energies in a positive manner.