On question of majority rule and minority rights India presents a unique phenomenon which can not be summed up in stereotypes of religion, ethnicity, language, geography, demography and so on. Indian polity has been differently described as a nation state, a multiculture state, a civilizational state  etc. The fact is that it is none of these when viewed in exclusional terms but a continuum informed with rich multiulturalism growing within the bounds of its perennial civilizational reality and at the same time striving to transform itself into a nation state. The Truth that is India is an ageless civilization stretching back to multi- millennia in which myriad faiths, languages, races, cultures, belief systems have freely interacted, flourished and fruitioned. Since hoary times India has been trundling along brushing aside all impediments to its civilizational growth on the way. Steering clear of all certainties of religious beliefs it has kept open all avenues of dialogue, letting a hundred schools contend and a billion flowers bloom imposing no restriction on winds of thought and change.
Indian mind has never felt constricted by any revelation or dogma but continued to move on in a spirit of enquiry on an endless journey with a view to reaching the point of self-discovery. This wise India has always remained a land of infinite possibilities and an open society encouraging dissent and diversity. It has continued to be a pluralist society comprising varied cultural civilizational groups, races, languages and religions and by a creative transformative alchemy assimilating them all in its oceanic spirit. By a continuous process of churning has been shaped the Indian identity in the form of a perfect mosaic in which several strands have been harmonized. This is why unity in diversity, sense of tolerance, equal respect for all religions, fraternal living, freedom and democracy are ingrained in Indian cultural ethos.
With thirty-five Indian languages (Seventeen having constitutional recognition) each one spoken by more than a million people and more than 22,000 districts' dialects and each one having its cultural underpinnings and assumptions, none of the native languages enjoys a majority status in India. This holds well in respect of Hindi too, which though spoken by virtually half of the population, thanks to the Indian cinema, because of other factors cutting into its claim fails to achieve the majority status.
In India simultaneously one can have multiple identities crossing with one another and even overlapping each other. For example one may be a Hindu by religion, Marathi speaking Chitapavan Brahmin by caste, a Gujrati by domicile, a Bombayite by marriage and a D.A.V.Ite by education. His interaction with the group may be limited further by his belief-systems, preferences and predilections which may colour his choices concerning whether or not to affiliate or share his concerns with one of the other groups. This tends to make him a minority within a minority.
In all democratic polities a tension necessarily exists between majority rule and  minority rights. The two are so inextricably woven that the resultant tension does not render the polity dysfunctional but rather reinvigorates the democratic processes and ethos. As long as a society has shifting series of ruling coalitions rather than a single monolithic and permanent majority there thrives a vibrant system of democratic governance. In a true democratic pluralism the minorities reflect the cross cutting cleavages and overlapping memberships and tend to facilitate the smooth transfer of power from one coalition of power elite to another. The sense of mutual respect and trust and the spirit of adjustment and accommodation is always there between the ruling coalition and the one waiting in the wings. There also exists at the same time a basic agreement on the rules of the game among various groups themselves. Where this consensus is lacking the field is ripe for one group or perhaps coalition of groups seeking to wrest control of the polity by using its coercive apparatus to overlord over other minority groups. And where the center, unable to bear the excessive load, can not preserve the equilibrium the society may find itself torn apart by civil strife and wars of succession.
Indian society today is riven by the worst communalism, caste-oriented politics, corrosive corruption from top to bottom and criminalization of politics and politicization of criminals and crime. Civil liberties that are the core of democratic commitment have suffered erosion. The foundation of secularism which has been its intrinsic strength all through history is currently under severe attack from the communalists of many hues. The forced mass exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from their hearth and home and recent communal riots in Gujrat has shattered the self-esteem of Indians and lowered the nation's prestige in the world as nothing else did. It has put a question mark on Indians' capacity to dispense evenhanded justice to its citizens, secure and preserve their human dignity, democratic freedoms and multiculturalism.
Undeniably India is a land of minorities. It can be described as a polyglot, polychrome, polyfaith and polycaste country. In many provinces and localities Hindus too are in a minority. If a riot-like state is allowed to develop in the country it will spell disaster of imaginable proportion and inflict untold misery on the multitude. Therefore any talk of Hindu Raj or Hindu Nationalism is fraught with great danger in the Indian social millieu. It must be clearly understood that all communities are vulnerable, some more some less, depending upon the context and the prevailing circumstances. Minoritism is as shortsighted a policy as majoritism. Any clash between the two will fracture the unity of India and will inflict lethal wounds on the Indian psyche which it will take long years to heal. In every locality and mohalla, in every city and village, there is a strong need to have self-help multicommunal neighborhood communities for the purpose of generating the fund of goodwill, the feeling of fraternity and much-needed social capital for creating communal harmony which is indeed a prerequisite for completing the decolonizing agenda in the South Asian subcontinent.
To create equilibrium between the liberal emphasis on individual rights and the assertion of group rights, the democratic polity must create its own shock absorbers and buffers. This would entail bringing forth and nurturing the institutions of civil society in order to channelise the constructive potential of various groups inhabiting this vast country. Indian state is duty-bound to govern in a spirit of utter impartiality always keeping before it the greatest good of all. It must fulfill its primary duty of preserving law and order and of dispensing distributive justice to all sections of the society. To ensure communal harmony and fraternal peace which may not be shattered by slightest provocation from within or pressure from without, both the so-called majority and minority must change their mindsets. This calls for inculcating  liberalizing value education to effect attitudinal change of the citizenry. Live and let live is the basic wisdom which needs be internalized in our daily living. It requires to be imbibed in whatever we think, plan and do.
Given the right resolve, right vision and right approach, nothing is beyond us to accomplish. Where from it can come. From a contrite heart, from the depths of silent contemplation, from the self-transformative sincerest prayer. The most potent and divine source is compassion of the mother who knows the needs of every child, who is ever vigilant to any external danger or inner malady, who is willing to lay down her life to let her children thrive and prosper and, to crown all, who dispenses the choicest boons and bounties to each according to his or her capacity and to each according to his or her need.