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Jainism is considered to be a legally distinct religion in India. A section of scholars earlier considered it as a Hindu sect or a Buddhist heresy, but it is one of the three ancient Indian religions.[1] On 27 January 2014, the Government of India explicitly awarded the status of a "minority religion" to the Jain community in India, as per Section 2(c) of the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) Act (NCM), 1992.[2]
In 1993, the National Minorities Commission arrived at their recommendation that the Jain community be declared as a minority religious community.[6] It was in consideration of the following:
It resolved to recommend to the Government of India that the Jains deserve to be recognised as a distinct religious minority, and that, therefore the Government of India may consider including them in the listing of "Minorities."[7]
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See also: Bal Patil |
In 2005, the Supreme Court of India declined to issue a writ of Mandamus towards granting Jains the status of a religious minority throughout India.[8] The Court however left it to the respective states to decide on the minority status of Jain religion.[9]
In one of the observations of the Supreme Court, not forming part of the judgment, the Court said:[10]
Thus, 'Hinduism' can be called a general religion and common faith of India whereas 'Jainism' is a special religion formed on the basis of quintessence of Hindu religion. Jainism places greater emphasis on non-violence ('Ahimsa') and compassion ('Karuna'). Their only difference from Hindus is that Jains do not believe in any creator like God but worship only the perfect human-being whom they called Tirthankar. Lord Mahavir was one in the generation of Thirthankars. The Tirathankars are embodiments of perfect human-beings who have achieved human excellence at mental and physical levels. In philosophical sense, Jainism is a reformist movement amongst Hindus like Brahamsamajis, Aryasamajis and Lingayats. The three main principles of Jainism are Ahimsa, Anekantvad and Aparigrah.
The Supreme Court also noted: " … that the State Governments of Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand have already notified Jains as 'minority' in accordance with the provisions of the respective State Minority Commissions Act."[11]
This cast a doubt on the independent standing of Jain religion. Scholars in the Jain tradition, as well as several groups amongst the Jain community protested, and emphasised that Jain religion stands as a religion in its own right. While Hinduism as a mode of living, and as a culture is to be found across various religions in India because of several common customs, traditions and practices, but as religions Hindu religion and Jain religion are distinct.
On 20 January 2014, the Government of India awarded the minority status to the Jain community in India, as per Section 2(c) of the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) Act (NCM), 1992. This made the Jain community which makes for 7 million or 0.4 percent of the population as per 2001 census, the sixth community to be designated this status as a "national minority", after Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsis. Though Jains already had minority status in 11 states of India including Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan, in 2005 a petition was filed with Supreme Court of India, by community representatives, which was also backed by the National Minorities Commission. In its judgement the court left the decision to the Central government.[2][12]
In 2006, the Supreme Court opined that "Jain Religion is indisputably is not a part of Hindu Religion".[13]
Jainism and Other Religions: Illustrations noted by Supreme Court of India in the U.P. Basic Shiksha Parishad Judgment[13] (the para numbers refer to the paragraphs in the Judgment):
On 3 September 1949, while addressing a public meeting at Allahabad, the first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru said:[14]
The said speech can be considered to be a clarification on Article 25 of the Constitution of India.
10.2 On 31 January 1950, the PPS to the then Prime Minister of India sent a letter to the Jain Deputation on behalf of the then Prime Minister, which reads as under: (See adjoining image for original letter)
10.5 Jawaharlal Nehru, in his book Discovery of India, mentioned as under:
10.3 Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, the former President of India, in his book "Indian Philosophy Vol I" mentioned as under:
15. Dr. Radhakrishnan, who edited the 6th Volume of The Cultural Heritage of India, mentioned as under:
The Freedom of Religion Bill was a controversial bill passed by the Gujarat state assembly. The bill was passed in 2003. An amendment to the bill was passed on 19 September 2006 which banned the forced conversion from one religion to another.[15] The Anti-Conversion Act passed earlier was not clear on what forced conversion meant and to whom should it apply. Under the amendment Bill, a person need not seek permission in case he/she is converting from one sect to another of the same religion. It clubbed Jainism and Buddhism as denominations of Hinduism, like Shia and Sunnis are of Islam or Catholicism and Protestantism of Christianity. The move evoked strong protests from the state's Jain, Buddhist and Christian communities.[16][17] The National Commission for Minorities also criticised the Gujarat Assembly's decision to club Jainism and Buddhism with Hinduism terming it to be in contravention of its 23 October 1993, notification classifying Buddhists as a "minority community."[18]
Ultimately on 31 July 2007, finding it not in conformity with the concept of freedom of religion as embodied in Article 25 (1) of the Constitution, Governor Nawal Kishore Sharma returned the Gujarat Freedom of Religion (Amendment) Bill, 2006.[19] The Governor held that Jainism and Buddhism are recognised as religions rather than denominations of Hinduism, something that the Amendment Bill sought to wrongly convey. A press release issued by Raj Bhavan, said "the proposed amendment would amount to withdrawing the protection against forceful or inappropriate religious conversions, particularly in case of Jains and Buddhists". The release cited large scale protests from different religious and social organisations, especially from the Jain and Christian communities, in indicating toward the unacceptability of the proposed amendment.
