Background information for A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
Religions in India
The religious composition of the Indian populace is roughly: Hinduism: 82%, Islam: 12%,
Christianity: 2.5%, Sikhism: 2%, Buddhism: 0.7%, Jainism: 0.5%, Zoroastrianism: 0.01%, Judaism: 0.0005%
The caste system
The caste system is a social system developed in ancient India in which people were divided into separate close communities. The origin of the caste system is in Hinduism but it affected the whole Indian society. In the religious form it is basically a simple division of society in which there are four main castes arranged in a hierarchy and below them the outcast, but socially the caste system was more complicated, with many sub-castes and other divisions. The four main Indian castes (or Varnas), from highest to lowest, are Brahmins, Kshatriya, Vaishya, and Shudras. Those who do not belong to any of these castes are Dalits, or Untouchables, and occupy the lowest rung of the social order.
Untouchables
The treatment of “Untouchables” (or Dalits) is commonly regarded as one of the cruelest features of the caste system. In Indian society people who worked in ignominious, “polluting,” and “unclean” occupations were seen as polluting people and were therefore considered untouchables with almost no rights in the society. Their dwellings were at a distance from the settlements of the other four communities and they were not allowed to touch people from those castes, to enter their houses, or to enter temples. They could not use the same wells as other castes and had to sit at a distance from others in public places. In some regions even contact with their shadow was seen as polluting.
If, for any reason, there was a contact between a Dalit and a member of one of the four castes (Varnas), the Varna member became defiled and had to immerse or wash her- or himself with water to be purified. If the Dalit entered a house and touched the belongings of a Varna member, he or she used to wash or clean the places where the untouchable touched and stood.
In orthodox Hinduism any one who does not belong to the four Varnas, meaning foreigners and non-Hindus, are considered untouchables but in reality they are not treated as such. In general people in larger cities are less strict about the caste system than those in rural areas and tend to mix more.
When India gained independence from Britain in 1947 it became a democratic and secular country, separating religion and state, and it became legally forbidden to discriminate against an individual based on caste or “untouchability.” However, discrimination continues to exist and most people and families that were of low caste remain low in the social order today. Dalits continue to do most “degrading” jobs while Brahmans (the highest caste) are much more likely than others to be doctors, engineers and lawyers. The government has affirmative action policies towards the lower castes and Dalits.
Parsi / Zoroastrianism
Parsis (or Parsees), followers of Zoroastrianism, are a small religious community existing mostly in Mumbai (Bombay). They are called Parsi because the religion arrived in India from Persia (modern-day Iran). Zoroastrianism was established by Zarathustra in the 7th or 6th century BC and its followers exiled from Iran in the 7th century AD because of religious persecution.
Parsis are about 0.01% of India's population but their contribution to the country is significant. Several Parsis were important figures in establishing the Indian Nationalist movement and Parsis were pioneers in establishing modern Indian industry. Wealthy Parsi families have established institutions of all kinds in India and even today some of the bigger financial institutions in the nation are owned by Parsis.
Sikhism
About 2% of India's population is Sikh but because of their unique appearance they have come to be a symbol of India. Traditionally the men grow their hair long, o not shave their beards or mustaches, and gather their hair in turbans.
Sikhism is comparatively a new religion in India, being established by Guru Nanak around 1500. It included beliefs from Hinduism and Islam. Nanak and the other creators of Sikhism tried to abolish the caste system and Sati, the burning of the widow, among other traditional customs. In Sikhism everyone has equal rights irrespective of caste, creed, color, race, sex or religion.
Five marks were created to make it easier for Sikhs to recognize each other — uncut hair, a comb, a sword or dagger, a bracelet on the right wrist, and shorts — although not all Sikhs continue to follow this tradition. Sikhism’s emphasis on militant tradition and community service continues today, with many Sikhs serving in the Indian army or police.
Indira Gandhi
Indira Gandhi was the third Prime Minister of India, serving three consecutive terms (1966–77) and later a fourth term (1980–84). Her father, Jawaharlal Nehru, was the first prime minister of independent India and she adhered to the quasi-socialist policies of industrial development that he had begun. Gandhi established closer relations with the Soviet Union, depending on that nation for support in India’s long-standing conflict with Pakistan. She was also the only Indian Prime Minister to have declared a state of emergency in order to rule by decree and the only Indian Prime Minister to have been imprisoned after holding that office.
In June 1975 the High Court of Allahabad declared Indira Gandhi's 1971 election to the Lok Sabha (the lower house of Parliament) void on grounds of electoral malpractice. The court ordered her to be removed from her seat in Parliament and banned from running in elections for six years. Since the Prime Minister must be a member of either the lower or higher house of Parliament, this decision effectively removed her from office.
Gandhi convinced President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed to declare a state of emergency and ordered the arrest of her opposition, but in 1977 her party, Indian National Congress, lost the election to the Janata Party, a coalition of her opponents. The Janata government ordered the arrest of Gandhi and her son Sanjay on several charges, meaning that she was automatically expelled from Parliament. Her arrest and long-running trial, however, gained her great sympathy from many people who had feared her as a tyrant just two years earlier.
In elections held in January 1980, the Congress party was returned to power with a landslide majority and Gandhi once again became Prime Minister.
The Emergency
The Indian Emergency (June 25, 1975-March 21, 1977) was a 21-month period when President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, on the advice of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, declared a state of emergency under Article 352 of the constitution, effectively bestowing on Gandhi the power to rule by decree, suspending elections and civil liberties. (As in many countries that have both a president and prime minister, the president is a largely symbolic office while the prime minister is the chief executive.)
Among the many criticisms of the Emergency are: detention of people by police without charge or notification of families, abuse and torture of detainees and political prisoners, use of public and private media institutions for propaganda, forced sterilization of men and women under the family planning initiative, destruction of slum and low-income housing in old Delhi and Mumbai, and large scale and illegal enactment of laws (including modifications to the Constitution) which shifted the country towards socialism.
Anti-Sikh riots
On October 31, 1984, two of Indira Gandhi's Sikh bodyguards, Satwant Singh and Beant Singh, shot her with their service weapons in the garden of the Prime Minister's residence in New Delhi. Both men surrendered; Beant Singh was shot dead almost immediately while Satwant Singh and another conspirator were sentenced to death and hanged.
Gandhi was not popular among Sikhs for several reasons. During the Emergency thousands of Sikhs campaigning for autonomous government were imprisoned and sporadic violence continued due to an armed Sikh separatist group that was designated as a terrorist entity by the government of India. In 1982 Gandhi had ordered the Indian army to shoot Jarnail Singh Bhindrawale, a Sikh religious leader leading a campaign for greater rights to the Sikhs. In response to this, Indira Gandhi ordered the Indian army to shoot Bhindrawale, who became a martyr to the Sikh community. In June 1984, Gandhi ordered the army to secure the Golden Temple, a Sikh religious site occupied by Sikh separatists, and many Sikhs perceived the actions as an assault on their religion and rights.
After Gandhi’s assassination riots and mob violence broke out in many parts of India. The government reported 2,700 deaths in the ensuing chaos in which Sikhs were targeted and somewhere between 20,000 and 50,000 people fled their homes. Several human rights organizations allege that the violence was orchestrated and encouraged by the government.