Introduction
Contemporary democratic states have mostly emerged out of liberal revolution with
an idea of freedom and empowerment for the people. The idea of freedom and
empowerment in democratic states has been informed by a notion of 'rights' which
are guaranteed by the state, secured within a citizenship framework, protected from
the state encroachment, and even applied against the state. This idea has however
largely been defined within the conceptual vocabulary of universalism-of equal moral
worth, of equal citizenship status, and of equal protection of the law, by the modern
political theory. The universality of law and equal moral worth before the law were
juxtaposed within the idea of citizenship for all which although implies an idea of
the universality of citizenship but does not ensure the equal impact of law on all the
individuals. The idea of neutrality that is embedded in the universalist idea of
citizenship not only constrains the equal exercise of citizenship rights but even denies
the opportunities for equal participation in the political processes for the minority
communities against whom the power structures like religion, ethnicity, language, and
caste may effectively operate. Therefore, what becomes important and interesting to
ask is whether the rights of all the people are secured and protected, even of
minorities?
The renewed interest of political theorists in citizenship studies have highlighted new
power structures which operate in a majority-minority framework, of which the
culture remains the most important structure vying for recognition and pushing for a
the shift in the universal citizenship framework from transcending the cultural
particularity and differences to recognizing them. In the last two to three decades
when the contemporary liberal democratic states have become increasingly
multicultural, a wider shift has been allowed to be introduced in the polity of these
states which not only allow a wider basis for the recognition of the minority claims
but considers it more appropriate. As a result, a new school of theorists has come up
who assume the citizenship framework to be culture and difference sensitive rather
than difference-blind, popularly referred to as minority rights theorists or
multicultural theorists.
