Civilization Goals Independent of Electoral Compulsions

Recent developments have shown that electoral victories and the hold over power is never permanent. While ideology may sometimes bring victories, political and economic factors determine the outcome on other occasions. Whatever may be the underlying reason, one can never assume a permanent hold on power. 

Such being the case, it is always prudent for a leader to continuously move further on the question of ideological goals. The smartest move would be to ensure that the civilizational and ideological goals are always being ensured, even when not in power.

The appointment of a huge number of Judges to the highest courts of the land, including the Supreme Court, by Donald Trump is a case in point. The US elections results seem to be pointing to an imminent ouster of Trump from the Presidency. However, a strong presence in the judiciary, built over the past four years, is certainly going to help the Conservatives in American society hold a leash on to policy execution for a considerable period of time, and certainly till the next time they are back in power. 

In a country like ours, the need for continuously rolling the civilizational boulder is even more important. We have more than 30 states and union territories, and elections to these, along with national elections, is a never-ending fair. There are at least 3-4 “important” elections every year, not to mention the Lok Sabha elections once every five years. If the task of rebuilding our civilization is held hostage to the needs of electoral calculations, there is never going to be a start. Work on the ideological front therefore needs to happen *in spite* of elections.

In the past 18 months the Government at the center has taken a few strong steps towards meeting certain civilizational objectives. The abolition of Article 370 and integration of Jammu and Kashmir into the mainstream is a historic step. Similarly, the passage of the Citizenship Amendment Act is a bold step, albeit a move with limited benefits due to the cut-off date being 2014. The victory in the Rama Janma Bhumi case at the Supreme Court is another milestone in the Hindu revivalist efforts. 

While the above measures are certainly a step in the right direction, and wholesomely welcome, it is the wish of every interested Hindu that these steps act as a catalyst towards bigger changes. For many years now, Hindus have been pointing out the need for removal of Constitutional and legal barriers that have been acting as roadblocks for Hindu revival and growth. The negative effect of these Constitutional obstacles, that are hampering the growth of Hindu institutions, will in the long run prove much more detrimental than what steps such as the removal of Article 370 and CAA can offset.

A little more than three years is left in the current, second, term of the Narendra Modi Government. In the past six and a half years, the Government has been extremely reluctant to touch the issue of Constitutional remedies for Hindus. It is critical that at least some important steps are taken to address this issue in the remaining duration of this term.

Sri Satyapal Singh had introduced a Constitutional Amendment Bill in the year 2016 to amend Articles 25 to 30 of our Constitution. Amending these 5 to 6 Articles of the Constitution as per the bill introduced by Satyapal Singh is indeed the right thing to do, in the long term. However, keeping in mind the limited time available now, it would be good to make at least a couple of changes to the Constitution to provide at least a semblance of fair ground to Hindus. Limiting the focus to just two areas may also help garner wider support from political parties, something dearly necessary for any Constitutional amendment bill to muster passage in the Rajya Sabha.

Educational rights for mathas and ashrams.

Amendment of Article 30 to make it possible for all citizens of India to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice is the most critical piece of change required for Hindu society. However, there has been a remarkable reluctance on the part of the present Government to even discuss this need. Perhaps the fear that any change to Article 30 will be perceived as an “anti-minority” move may be the reason behind this reluctance. Although the demand from Hindu groups is only to provide an equal right to Hindus as is currently enjoyed by the minorities, the fear of such a move being perceived as anti-minority is strong. 

Keeping this in mind, it would be prudent to try an alternate approach in the short term that could alleviate the problem for the Hindus to an extent. 

A significant number of educational institutions in India today are run by traditional Hindu mathas and ashrams. While a small number of institutions run by these mathas and ashrams are dedicated centers of religious learning, a majority of them are regular schools and colleges teaching secular subjects. Still, due to the fact that these institutions do not enjoy the benefits of Article 30, they cannot teach religion or Dharma as part of their curriculum, if they receive any form of aid from the governments. In most cases, due to financial constraints, these institutions do receive land or financial grants from the state governments and thereby disqualify themselves from teaching Dharma. At the same time, it is worth noting that any minority administered educational institution, even if it receives State aid, can continue to teach religious education. This is stark discrimination.

These aided institutions also come under the radar of government control from a management point of view. Appointment of teachers, fixing of pay scales, limits to fees chargeable, infrastructure requirements – all of these are driven by government rules. Minority aided institutions, on the other hand, do not face such regulations. An uneven playing field is clearly evident. 

An interim step that the present government could take, therefore, would be to amend Article 26 of the Constitution and declare it as a Fundamental Right of religious denominations to run educational institutions.

At present, Article 26 (a) of the Constitution reads as below:

26. Freedom to manage religious affairs Subject to public order, morality and health, every religious denomination or any section thereof shall have the right

(a) to establish and maintain institutions for religious and charitable purposes;

This can be amended as follows:

26. Freedom to manage religious affairs Subject to public order, morality and health, every religious denomination or any section thereof shall have the right

(a) to establish and maintain institutions for religious, educational and charitable purposes;

The main change introduced by this amendment will be that, in addition to religious and charitable institutions, religious denominations can claim a Fundamental Right to run educational institutions too. Such a simple amendment will allow Hindu religious denominations, such as mathas and ashrams, to stake rights equal to those enjoyed by minority institutions. It will drastically reduce government interference in their institutions and will also provide them the right to teach Dharmic subjects in their schools and colleges.

All non-Hindu religious denominations already enjoy such privileges through Article 30. So the proposed amendment will in no way affect them (negatively or otherwise). 

Such an interim step may also find favour with the current bureaucracy since not all Hindu schools and colleges will slip away from government control, something which our babus seem to greatly desire and enjoy. At the same time, the most significant players of Hindu society when it comes to the education sector, namely the mathas and ashrams and religious sects, will find themselves liberated from the shackles of government control. 

In the past few decades, numerous religious denominations falling under the Hindu fold have asked to be considered as a separate, minority, religion. The attempts of Ramakrishna Math, Brahmo Samaj, Lingayat sect and others have all been due to the attraction of the benefits that Article 30 provides. The proposed amendment to Article 26 will obviate the need for such denominations to seek an exit out of the Hindu fold.

Temple management rights

Another corrective measure that the present government would do well to undertake is to provide far greater rights for Hindus to manage their own temples. Government control over Hindu temples, and their management by government employees, leads to loss of spiritual attachment towards temples for ordinary Hindus, inefficient administration and even corruption. It is well established now that the revival of Hindu society leans big on being able to run its own temples.

To facilitate this, certain amendments to Article 25 would be required. At present Article 25 looks as below:

25. Freedom of conscience and free profession, practice and propagation of religion

(1) Subject to public order, morality and health and to the other provisions of this Part, all persons are equally entitled to freedom of conscience and the right freely to profess, practise and propagate religion

(2) Nothing in this article shall affect the operation of any existing law or prevent the State from making any law

(a) regulating or restricting any economic, financial, political or other secular activity which may be associated with religious practice;

(b) providing for social welfare and reform or the throwing open of Hindu religious institutions of a public character to all classes and sections of Hindus Explanation I The wearing and carrying of kirpans shall be deemed to be included in the profession of the Sikh religion Explanation II In sub clause (b) of clause reference to Hindus shall be construed as including a reference to persons professing the Sikh, Jaina or Buddhist religion, and the reference to Hindu religious institutions shall be construed accordingly

This needs to be amended as below:

25. Freedom of conscience and free profession, practice and propagation of religion

(1) Subject to public order, morality and health and to the other provisions of this Part, all persons are equally entitled to freedom of conscience and the right freely to profess, practise and propagate religion

(2) Subject to public order, morality and heath and to the other provisions of this Part, all persons are equally entitled to establish and administer places of religious worship or practice.

(3) Nothing in this article shall affect the operation of any existing law or prevent the State from making any law

(a) regulating or restricting any economic, financial, political or other secular activity which may be associated with conducted in addition to religious practice;

(b) providing for social welfare and reform or the throwing open of Hindu religious institutions of a public character to all classes and sections of Hindus Explanation I The wearing and carrying of kirpans shall be deemed to be included in the profession of the Sikh religion Explanation II In sub clause (b) of clause reference to Hindus shall be construed as including a reference to persons professing the Sikh, Jaina or Buddhist religion, and the reference to Hindu religious institutions shall be construed accordingly

An amendment such as the above will immediately bring several benefits to Hindus:

• The administration of a temple becomes a Fundamental Right (proposed Article-25-2) thereby making it very difficult for a government to take over a temple.
• Governments would be able to interfere in the matter of any economic, financial, political or secular activity in a temple only if such an activity is totally disconnected from the management of the temple and yet is being conducted from or by the temple (proposed Article 25-3-a). So for e.g. governments cannot take over the financial management of a temple but would be able to make laws banning the conduct of say a lottery by the temple management or say the arrangement of a political rally by a temple administration.

The above two amendments can be easily achieved by the present central government without too much resistance from the liberal camps, or from even within its own bureaucracy. They will provide significant benefits to the Hindu community on matters of education and temple management, both of which are critical. Further, these amendments and the consequent evolution of the educational and Dharmic ecosystem in the next few years will pave the way for further reforms and amendments leading to the realization of a truly secular Constitution in the near future.