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Therefore, Prof. Brown concludes, "The double doctrine of ahimsa and vegetarianism has never had full acceptance among the Hindus. It appears to have originated in a non-Brahmanical environment, and was therefore, promoted in historic India by the Jains and was later adopted by Brahmanic Hindus."
In a memorandum by the representatives of the Jain Community presented to the Constituent assembly, it was claimed that Jainism is a non-Vedic religion having distinctive social and religious customs and their own system of law, therefore, the Jain community should be treated as a minority.
On January 25, 1950 a Jain delegation was led to the Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, and other Central leaders to draw their attention to the anomalous position of the Jains under Subclause (b) of Clause 2 of Article 25 of the constitution and a petition was submitted. Jawaharlal Nehru clearly assured the delegation that the Jains are not Hindus.
Jawaharlal Nehru had earlier said in his Allahabad speech on September 3, 1949 (reported in The Statesman dated September 5, 1949), "No doubt India has a vast majority of Hindus, but they could not forget the fact there are also minorities including Muslims, Christians, Parsis, and Jains. If India was understood as a 'Hindu Rashtra' it meant that minorities were not cent per cent citizens of the country."
In the aforesaid context, a grave injustice has been done to the Jain community in as much as its legitimate constitutional status of a minority community. It was done by the Government of India Notification dated October 23, 1993, where the Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, and Zoroastrians (Parsis) were declared as minority communities under the National Commission for Minorities Act 1992.
Later, in pursuance of various representations made to the National Minority Commission by the Jain community and the evidences presented
Jain Education International 2010_03
in regard to the ancient religious identity of Jainism (distinct from Vedic Hinduism) the National Minority Commission, in consideration of (1) the relevant constitutional provisions, (2) various judicial pronouncements, (3) the fundamental differences in philosophy and beliefs (principally theism vs. atheism) vis-à-vis Hinduism, and (4) the substantial number of Jain population, recommended on October 23, 1994, to the Government of India, that the Jains be recognized as a distinct religious minority. This recommendation was renewed in 1996.
It is pertinent to note in this context that right from the first census in British India in 1871 the Jains were enumerated as a major religious community. In addition, the Government of India Resolution No.F.8-9/93-SC/ST dated July 28, 1995 of the Ministry of Human Resources and Development in its Memorandum of Minorities Education Cl.3.1.3 mentions that, "according to 1981 Census the religious minorities constitute about 17.4% of the population of which Muslims are 11.4%, Christians 2.4%, Sikhs 2%, Buddhists 0.7%, and Jains 0.5%."
The Central Government did not want to take a decision even after these two clear recom
mendations of the National Minority Commission. Therefore, Dakshin Bharat Jain Sabha, a premier Jain social, religious, and cultural institution, was forced to file a writ petition in 1997 in the Bombay High Court. A Division Bench of the Bombay High Court, in their order on October 20, 1997, directed the Central Government to take an expeditious decision on the issue of recognizing the Jains as a minority community as recommended by the National Minority Commission. As the Central Government failed to take action on this order, the convener decided to file a Special Leave Petition in the Supreme Court of India in 1999, for which leave has been granted and the matter is awaiting final hearing.
It is pertinent to mention that the Jain community is only seeking a minority status and is
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