NEW DELHI, Dec. 12 -- The illusion of establishing homogenous nationalism by provoking the sentiments of religious majority is an emerging trend that is visible and which is detrimental to the religious minority communities. The Central government's pre-matric scholarship to students of minority communities will no longer apply to students from Classes I to VIII, and it will be continued only for students of Classes IX and X starting from 2022-23. This announcement may be construed as a conscious effort to slowly and steadily weaken the minority religious communities especially the poor and the downtrodden among them; this move is not in consonance with the spirit of the Constitution of India.

The country has many religious groups, of wh...