In the states of the country where the population of Hindus is less, then the respective state governments can give them minority status. In an affidavit filed in the top court, the Union Ministry of Minority Affairs said that state governments can declare a religious or linguistic community within the state as a ‘minority community’. For a long time, people wanted to know the stand of the central government on this issue.
The petition was filed in 2020 by BJP leader and Supreme Court advocate Ashwini Upadhyay, to which the Center has responded. Ashwini Upadhyay had said in the petition that Hindus are a minority in Lakshadweep, Mizoram, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Jammu and Kashmir, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Punjab as per the 2011 Census and in these states as prescribed by the Supreme Court in its 2002 TMA Pai judgment. According to the principle, minority status should be given.
In the TMA Pai case, the Supreme Court had held that religious and linguistic minorities should be treated state wise for the purposes of Article 30 relating to the rights of minorities to establish and administer educational institutions. The Center had notified five communities (Muslims, Sikhs, Buddhists, Parsis and Christians) as minorities in 1993 under Section 2 (C) of the National Commission for Minorities Act 1992.
Ashwini Upadhyay was the first to move the apex court in 2017 for proper guidelines for identification of minorities so that Hindus are declared as a minority community in certain states and union territories where their numbers are less than the majority community. Seeking to quash the 1993 central notification, Ashwini Upadhyay pointed out that Jain community was also included in the list of minorities in 2014, but Hindus are not included in the list despite being a minority in some states and union territories. .
The Center in its affidavit said that the petitioners have argued that the followers of Judaism, Bahaism and Hinduism, who are genuine minorities in Ladakh, Mizoram, Lakshadweep, Kashmir, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Punjab and Manipur, can go to educational institutions of their choice. Cannot install administration of , this is not correct. Because as per the rules of the concerned state, the institutions can be certified as minority institutions.