Another Kind of Minority

Another Kind of Minority

1990 2 February 5 Another Kind of Minority (239) An article published in the Times of India on January 2, 1989, entitled, “Two Nations in India: Western Educated and Others,” states that Marx divided people into two groups on the basis of being land owners or landless. This division may be valid for India too, but that is not what has divided the country into “two nations.” What has split the country from top to bottom to the general public, some sections of the latter being educated in regional languages, the rest being illiterate. The latter group makes up almost eighty percent of the country’s population. The remaining 20 percent are the virtual rulers of the country, 50 percent of the national wealth being concentrated in their hands,

These are the people who have secured all the top administrative posts, who dominate in the field of journalism and in academic and educational institutions. This is the culmination of English education started in India by the British in 1833. Now after a period of 150 years, the English-educated have become thoroughly entrenched in all the best situations that India has to offer. This is a process which even the liberation of the country in 1947 was unable to check.

Abu Hasin relates how Umar used to tell newly appointed officials to make the Quran their greatest preoccupation and to place less emphasis on relating the traditions of the Prophet Mohammad: “And I am with you,” he would add.

(Al-Tabarani)