Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life 
has conducted an extensive survey Based on interviews with more than
35,000 Americans age 18 and older, the survey details the religious
affiliation of the American public.

The result of survey is very interesting:

1. 48% of Surveyed Hindus were Post Graduate or above. Jews were distant Second with 35%
2. 43% of Hindus are in Highest Income Group($100,000 Plus) second only to Jews who are at 46%
3. It shows 44 percent of Americans have switched religious affiliations (If shifts among Protestant denominations are included)
4. The Roman Catholic Church “has experienced the greatest net losses as a result of affiliation changes”
5. Sixteen
   per cent of American adults say they are not part of any organised
   faith, which makes the unaffiliated the country’s fourth-largest
   “religious group”.
6. Evangelical Protestant Churches form the
   biggest Group with 26.3%. Followed by Catholic who form 23.9% of
   Population. While Hindus form approx. 0.4% of Population

It is shameful that certain groups in Kerala has decided to celebrate Khilafat Movement Centenary!

A reception committee under the aegis of the Ahmediyya Muslim Jamat is constituted was on Sunday to observe the centenary of the Khilafat movement. Jamat’s Chief Missionary Mouvali Mohammed Ayub is the coordinator and Kozhikode region Amir M.A. Mohammed, the chairman.

In Kerala, the Khilafat Movement culminated as  Moopalah riots
which claimed the lives of thousands of innocent Hindus at the hands of
Muslim mobs. This is how Annie Beasent described riots in her book  The Future Of Indian Politics: A Contribution To The Understanding Of Present-Day Problems P252. Annie Besant stated: "They Moplahs
murdered and plundered abundantly, and killed or drove away all Hindus
who would not apostatise. Somewhere about a lakh (100,000) of people
were driven from their homes with nothing but their clothes they had
on, stripped of everything...Malabar has taught us what Islamic rule
still means, and we do not want to see another specimen of the Khilafat Raj in India."

One of lesser told story of Khilafat Movement was that in 1920, some 18,000 Muslims from Sindh and the Northwest Frontier Province emigrated to Afghanistan on the urging of Muslim religious leaders. They saw India as a Dar al-Harb, a non-Islamic land inhabited mainly by Hindus and controlled by the British; they sought to temporarily live in a Dar al-Islam,
which signified a Muslim-majority and rule of Islam. However, the
Afghan government forcibly deported the refugees back to British India,
leaving them weak and vulnerable.

Also, some of prominent historians believe that Khilafat Movement was first step towards formation of Pakistan!

Do we really need to celebrate such a shameful episode in our History? do we have to reopen our wounds?

Last week, I was reading a very  interesting book "A Thousand
Splendid Suns" by Afghan American author Khaled Hosseini. There is a
very interesting passage in which the father of Laila (One of central cast) asks
her to enjoy her life under USSR Backed Communist Rule. He says "This is the best time to be born as a Female in
USSR"

Similarly, It seems this is the best time to born as a member of Minority in
India. Lets take a hypothetical situation in which a Boy called "X" is born as a
Minority.

X is the fourth son in his family. His farther is a Small Time Business Man
and Mother is a Housewife.

His father send him to school when he was Five year old. He didnot have much
difficulty getting into the school as it was a Private minority-run educational
institution. As per the current laws, the government donot  regulate
Private minority-run higher education institutions fees and admission
policy. He being from Minority community didnot have to face much
competition. Once in the school, his fathers burden was much relieved as
Government has just started Minority Only Scholarships, He was
more than certain that he would be able to avail the scholarship.

Once he completed the studies, he didnot have to go thru the hassle of
competing for Jobs  as in most of the states Minorities enjoys Job
reservation. In Fact, it is rumored that now this Job
reservation would be extended even to Private sector.

Now Since X is well placed in a Good Government Job, he would like to get
married. He has decided to Avail some funds from Rs 5 crore which AP
Govt has set aside for mass marriages of Minorities. He is checking
whether he can use this money for his honeymoon Trip also. Afterall, if govt.
gets him married they have to take responsibility for After Marriage Expenses.

With all his Materialistic  needs taken care, X has turned to religion for
Spiritual Needs. Now he regularly goes to the Mosque which has just be
refurbished with Rs 5 Crore funds which AP Govt has given for
repairs and maintenance for mosque and church. He has plans to go for Haj next
year, the travel for Haj is heavily subsidized by Indian
Government.

Today, X is a contented man, he has pledge to continue to vote for the
current government. He feels assured that the present Government will take care
of all his Needs whether "Materialistic" or "Spiritual" Moreover the Prime
Minister himself has assured that Minority has  first right over natural
resources. He was also heartened that PM lost his
sleep due to some unpleasant Incidents in Australia. He is assured that
his children will also get the good life he had and he would tell them
"Now its Good time as a Minority in India" 

Any government looking at minority appeasement can take a leaf out of the Andhra Pradesh Budget.

The
'tax free' Budget tabled by Finance Minister K Rosaiah allocates Rs 2
crore for Christian pilgrims visiting the holy sites in Israel; Rs 5
crore for mass marriages of Christians, Muslims and other minorities
and Rs 5 crore for mosque and church repairs and maintenance.

With
all of this and the recently implemented 4 per cent quota for Muslims
in government Andhra government certainly has gone overboard with its
attempt to appease minorities.

This outrageous appeasement was justified by a Outrageous Justification
Desh main agar kisi kaum ko chote nazar se dekhane lage, to desh ke
liye bhi khatra ho sakta hai (If you look down upon a community within
the country, that may invite trouble for the nation) Agar kisi ko insaf
dilana ho, aur agar ye appeasement hai, to iska koi jawab nahi hai.", state Minorities Welfare Minister Shabbir Ali reasons.

Obviously Hindus donot come into picture when its it is matters of Justice and taking care of community