By Masood Peshinam for TwoCircles.net
Thomas Malthus was the first economist to propose the systematic theory of population. In his essay on the principle of population, Malthus proposed that human population expands in geometrical progression while food production grows in arithmetic ratio. This scenario of arithmetic food growth simultaneous with geometric human population growth predicted a future when humans would have no resources to survive on.
To avoid such a catastrophe, Malthus urged control on population growth. He considered that the population increase should be kept down to a level which could be supported by the operation of various checks.
Then there is Charles Darwin who is best known for his theory of evolution. His theory of evolution has been discussed in much greater detail on numerous platforms, so I shall refrain from repeating the same. But to sum up, he believed in the survival of the fittest. He found the solution of the problems in coinciding and reconciling with the environment-be it natural, social, political, economic so on and so forth. To him, adaptation would lead to natural selection. Greater the adaptability, greater are the chances of survival.
However, notwithstanding the concept of adaptability propounded by Darwin, the fact remains that adaptability has a limit. Beyond that, adaptability leads to a merger where the very identity of the entity can be threatened.
Take for example, the Sindhi language. It is to save the identity of the Sindhi language that the Sindhis, despite having gone through the traumatic experiences of partition did not go for the Devnagri script and retained the Arabic script. The Sindhis asserted their Sindhi identity retaining the Arabic script.
With the Malthusian theory of population and Darwin’s theory of evolution in vogue , a new theory of population has come thanks to the RSS Chief Mohan Baghwat and his theory of population. The narrative of Mohan Baghwat’s theory of population is that the population of Hindus is on decline and the population of Muslims in India is on increase. He visualises that the expansion of Muslims population in future would disturb the demographic balance to the frightening proportion. Hence he suggests Hindus to have more children.
His apprehension that Muslim minority in the country would outnumber the Hindu majority is unfounded and imaginary. The imagined upswing in the Muslim population is not explained in terms of logic and reasoning, and has more to do it with politics than any attention to reality. The concept of expansion of population can’t be explained in religious connotations. There can be the economic interpretation, of course, even though they still remain open to debate: the ideas that poor look at more children in order to increase the means of earning and not availing of the facilities of family planning, early marriages and other factors may have the potential to expand population.
It is painful to see Mohan Bhagwat developing a communal stance to the growth of population which underlines the hollowness of the political discourse with an intent to incite the hatred against Muslims.
But more importantly for RSS, this is just one more issue in its kitty to complicate the situation for Muslims, a politically orphan community already suffering victimisation on one count or the other. Now the situation has come to such a pass that speaking of the victimhood of Muslims in India may also attract some harsh response. In the prevailing situation, forget secular Muslims: even secular Hindus are not tolerated. The dissent the hallmark of vibrant democracy is being stifled in the shouts of ultra nationalism.
The political class in the country particularly the Sangh Praviar keeps floating the issues with regular consistency for forcing its agenda on others and promote the interest of the corporate culture. To counter this, it is for the Muslims to see that non opportunist liberal class rises to the occasion thus contributing to the social secular ethos.
Rigid communalism irrespective of any side would not benefit any one, more particularly the middle class which is fighting the battle of survival every other day. The strength of the nation lies in Hindu Muslim unity which is an answer to our multiple problems.
The author is an advocate from Kalyan, Maharashtra