Religious and Ethnic Minority Politics in South Asia

Religious fundamentalism is on the rise in the neighbouring countries of the West Asia with serious implications for the majority communities of South Asian societies. In search of policy options, the South Asian leaders may have to draw upon the experiences of other multi-religious societies.

South Asia is the birthplace of the world’s two great religions—Hinduism and Buddhism—and has a large number of followers of Islam and Christianity. Religion occupies a preeminent place in the life of the people of South Asia, and the states of the region since their inception have followed different approaches to solve the issue of religion and politics. India and Sri Lanka adopted a non-sectarian, secular approach to define the role of religion in politics. However, recent developments in India and Sri Lanka demonstrate that these have not been very successful in satisfying the aspirations of such important religious minorities as Muslims and Sikhs in India, and Hindu Tamils in Sri Lanka. On the other hand, Pakistan and Bangladesh adopted a sectarian and non-secular approach. Pakistan’s very raison d''etre has been Islam, and its creation to forge Muslim national identity has led to the question who is a Muslim? Pakistan government''s declaration that Ahmadis are not Muslims, and recent attempts there by Sunnis, to proclaim Shias as another religious minority are part of this dilemma. Recently, Bangladesh has also adopted Islam as the state religion rendering Hindus, Buddhists and other tribal groups such as Chakmas as religious minorities.