Almost the entire 82-page Republic Day special issue of the Organiser is dedicated to the UPA government’s alleged attempts to appease Muslims. The RSS mouthpiece has been vocal on this topic for a while, but this one — which is described as dedicated to national unity — has two dozen articles on different aspects of the subject.

The editorial sees a political conspiracy in the government’s planning measures that are targeted at Muslims. “The central government has identified 90 districts in the country as minority concentrated for special development plans. An intriguing aspect of this idea is that known Muslim-majority districts, say in UP, Assam, West Bengal, J&K or Kerala, are not included in the select 90 list. It is said that altogether the Congress is thus focusing on nearly 250 Lok Sabha constituencies for doling out excessive privileges and central funds so as to develop them as captive pocket boroughs. This may or may not work but the damage to the national fabric is intrinsic,” it warns.

Advantage minorities?

R.K. Ohri, a former IPS officer, challenges the idea of Muslim deprivation. He thinks that Indian Muslims are better off than Hindus. “The incidence of infant and child mortality per 1,000 births is substantially higher among Hindus than among Muslims, the overall differential being of the order of 29 to 30 per cent in favour of the Muslims.” The degree of urbanisation, Ohri argues, is another important, globally recognised human development indicator. He quotes from Census 2001, to say that barely 26 per cent Hindus live in urban areas while the Muslim percentage of city-dwellers is much higher at 36 per cent, that is, nearly 10 per cent higher than Hindus.”

... contd.