INDIAN MULTICULTURALISM IN PRACTICE

Abstract

India is an excellent case for studying multiculturalism because of its vast socio-cultural lingual and religious diversity. The diversity of Indian society is not a new phenomena, like Western democratic societies, rather it existed since very past times. Therefore, it can be said that Indian minorities fall in the category of indigenous groups. Scholars like Will Kymlicka have argued that national minorities need some special constitutional safeguards for protecting their distinctive identities. The Indian constitution is a reflection of the principles of multiculturalism when it comes to the cultural and educational rights of minorities. The constitutional framers have done a commendable job by recognising the diversity of livelihood and guaranteed a safe survival to all the communities. The Indian constitution actively discourages all kinds of discriminations on the basis of particular identity of a person, like caste, creed, religion or language. It also mentions certain special rights for minorities in order to empower them and protect them from any kind of assimilationist programmes of the state. However, in the recent times there has been reported some violations of the multiculturalist framework of Indian constitution. This paper is therefore, an attempt to uncover all those violations of minority rights. The paper explores the various forces that have been responsible for curtailing the public space of minorities and trying to redefine the conceptions of citizenship and nationalism in a way that was not espoused by the constitutional ancestors.