“The speed of the fleet depends upon the speed of its weakest link.” So used to say Maulana Muhammad Ali Jauhar, President of Indian National Congress in the early 1930s.
The degree of his patriotic fervour coupled with his aspiration for independence can be imagined from the fact that today he lies buried in Jerusalem. While participating in a Round Table Conference in England, he, after his grave illness, had made it known to his comrades that he would prefer to be buried in a free, foreign country rather than returning to his motherland in fetters.
After over six decades, the lot of the weakest link, to put it mildly, leaves much to be desired. Now the discriminated and the deprived have decided to launch a peaceful movement at all India level to get what is legally and morally their due. The National Movement for Muslim Reservation is a joint venture of various Muslim organisations. It is a sober and serious group of dedicated and devoted men who count in the community and the country. It has a constructive, result-oriented agenda. It is not to break the heads and windows for the acceptance for its genuine demand. Reason, logic and the alchemy of sweet reasonableness are its tools.
FIRST MEET
It had its first national meet in New Delhi on February 10. A glance at its central committee would be rewarding: Mr Abdul Khaliq, Mr E.M. Abdur Rahiman, Maulana Arshad Madani, Maulana Asghar Imam Mehdi Salfi, Mr. Kunwar Danish Ali, Mr Saiyid Hamid, Mr Humaun Murad, Mr. P A Inamdar, Maulana Syed Jalaluddin Umari, Maulana Mahmood Madani, Mr. Manzoor Alam, Mr Shariful Hasan Naqvi, Maulana Syed Nizamuddin, Mr Syed Shahabuddin, Mr Shahid Sidiqqi, Mr Suhail KK, Mr Tarique Anwar, Mr Yasin Ali Usmani and Mr Zafarul Islam Khan.
It is not that no effort was made to improve the lot of the underprivileged. The Constitution itself is egalitarian and envisages several developmental measures and programmes for the removal of deprivation and inequalities. But somehow or the other, the principal minority of plural Bharat, did not, could not or was not allowed to register an upward trend in its economic, educational and social progress. Whenever the powers-that-be tried to undo any fraction of injustice, a too-loud hue and cry was raised, compelling the authority to give up “appeasement of Muslims”. Thus, what was their legitimate due too was not given to them.
15-POINT PROGRAMME
A high-powered commission known as Dr. Gopal Singh Commission was set up in 1983. It identified Neo-Buddhists and Muslims as two educationally backward segments. Now the Neo-Buddhists have been placed at par with the SC population. Forty-four districts with Muslim concentration were identified for special attention. The lukewarm attitude of the authorities and the callous insensitivity of the biased bureaucracy did not allow this commission to bring the desired results.
It was followed by the 15-Point Programme for the minorities. Its focus was on the situation arising out of communal riots and employment in various sectors, development of religious places and improvement of Wakfs, also. The problem was too gigantic for the 15-Point Programme. In the rehabilitation of riot-victims and fighting the fictitious cases against the victims has been, by and large, the problem of the Muslim organisations. As regards development and streamlining of the wakf properties, it, by and large, still remains a dream. It is sad to note that the Muslim Mutawallis are not willingly prepared to vacate their illegal occupancy.
In 2005 was set up a high-level committee on social, economic and educational status of the Muslim community. After Independence this is the only significant effort at providing justice to the minorities at various levels. This panel, also known as the Justice Rajinder Sachar Committee which submitted its final report to the Prime Minister on November 17, 2006, totally disarmed the Saffron brethren, fond of blaming the Muslims for most of the ills, afflicting the country. The Sachar Committee brought out the low Muslim socio-economic status with higher poverty, lower literacy, higher unemployment, and lower representation in civil services particularly judiciary and the elected bodies, etc.
DISHEARTENING
It is really disheartening to note that follow-up on important recommendations of the panel has yet to get momentum. It lacks speed and enthusiasm on the part of the Ministry concerned and the government. In concrete terms there is little to say on the achievements.
Then on March 15, 2005 was set up the Justice Ranganath Misra Commission. It was aimed at bringing the religious and linguistic minorities at par with the advanced sections of the society. It specifically referred to improving the lot of the less-fortunate. The Commission submitted its report in May 2007. But it was tabled in parliament in December 2009.
The Muslim leadership asks: Why? Almost as a rule each and every government, both in the States and at the Centre, gives to the people their rightful due when an election is near. This vote-oriented opportunism is an odorous slur on the democratic process. In Andhra Pradesh, reservation was given to Muslims when elections were round the corner. So is going to happen in West Bengal soon. It is neither healthy politics nor salubrious policy. It is just frustrating.
The High Court of Andhra Pradesh has not long ago quashed a law enacted by the State Government, providing four per cent reservation in Government jobs and 15 per cent in educational institutions to socially and educationally backward classes among Muslims.
It is to be noted that it is the third time since 2004 that the High Court has struck down a quota for Muslims. Is it because the quota was meant for Muslims? No. Definitely not. The State Government had failed to present the case in a scientific manner. It failed to define “Muslim” and “Muslim groups”. The High Court faulted surveys which were unscientific and not carried out for the purpose of enumerating backwardness among Muslims. What a brilliant example of bureaucratic irresponsibility! The Muslim leadership hopes that the AP government has learnt a proper lesson from the three judicial drubbings.
WEST BENGAL
The West Bengal government now says it has decided to implement the recommendations of Ranganath Commission. The fact is that Municipal and Assembly elections are near. Mr Abdul Ali Azizi, a member of the NCBC, shot off a letter on February 2 to the West Bengal Chief Secretary flagging the issue of the inadequate OBC quota and a need for reservation for backward Muslims. The fact, as Mr Ali rightly pointed out, is that more than 60 per cent of OBC population is being neglected in the state by not implementing the full reservation policy of 27 per cent quota. Has the Writer’s Building listened to Mr. Ali?
What Muslims at All India level demand is 15 per cent reservation for minorities and 10 per cent exclusively for themselves.
Below is the resolution passed by the reservation movement in its New Delhi meet on February 10:
The national Convention for Muslim Reservation noted with regret that the PM’s New 15-Point Programme and the recommendations of the Sachar Committee have not been implemented in letter and spirit, and that is indeed unfortunate, the Report of the Mishra Commission submitted in May 2007 has not been placed in the public domain, for reasons better to the Government.
It welcomed the initiative taken by Muslim organisations of national eminence to establish a Joint Committee of Muslim Organisations for Empowerment (JCMOE) in 11 June , 2007, which adopted a Charter of Demands on Sachar and Mishra Reports in September, 2007 and submitted it to the Government and the major political parties for their kind attention and which has subsequently decided to launch the National Movement for Muslim Reservation for conducting a sustained and continuous struggle to achieve the basic objectives of Reservation and Empowerment in order to secure for the community its due place in the nation and the opportunity to contribute to its progress and development in full measure.
It demanded the formal recognition of the Muslim community as a Backward Class in the light of the findings and recommendations of the Sachar Committee and the Mishra Commission, as already done by several states like Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
It urged the immediate publication of the Mishra Commission Report, full implementation of its basic recommendation, namely, 15 per cent reservation for the minorities, with 10 percent exclusively for the Muslims, along with the unutilised portion of the other 5% and the deletion of para 3 of the Constitution for the inclusion of Muslim and Christian Dalits in the SC List.
It reiterated the Resolution adopted by the National Conference on Reservation in 1994 that the OBC Muslims shall enjoy first claim, priority and preference on the Muslim sub-quota.
It proposed that after the Mishra Commission’s recommendations have been implemented, the community, as a whole, respond positively to any demand for the formal bifurcation of the Muslim sub-quota between the OBC Muslims and the other Muslims, to reduce persistent disparity.
It also demanded that the OBC Muslims which have been left out of the OBC Lists in several states may be included at the earliest both in the Central and state lists.
It demanded a development-oriented Census of all identifiable groups (communities, castes, sub-communities and sub-castes) in 2010 in order to determine the exact population of various social groups and their levels of backwardness relative to the SC/SC and thus scientifically viz. their respective sub-quota and remove the discrepancy between the central and the state lists of OBCs.
It urged the Central Government to move the Supreme Court of India to remove the 50% ceiling on total reservation, in order to accommodate the rising population of the SCs, STs and OBCs in the light of the circumstances as recorded in the Census.
It reiterated its unflinching support to the exclusion of the Creamy Layer from all reservation quotas and sub-quotas and proposed that the Creamy Layer should be defined in terms of family income exceeding an agreed multiple of average family income in the country and also that the beneficiaries should, as far as practicable, themselves come from low-income groups.
It called upon the Central Government to place before the people a detailed Balance-Sheet on the economic development and educational progress of the Muslims during 2004-09, in terms of substantive growth achieved under various administrative and development initiatives, both by the nation, as a whole and by the Muslims in particular, which should include statistics on recruitment to various services and cadres at all levels, enrolment in schools and colleges and admission to professional and post graduate courses, reduction of poverty, share in key development and welfare schemes, and nomination to boards of directors of banks and other autonomous organisations and agencies.
It expressed gratitude to the secular parties which have in principle supported over the years the Muslim demand for their long-standing aspiration in their election manifestos, in particular, to the Indian National Congress (INC) for including the demand for reservation in its Manifesto of 2004.
It appealed to all secular political parties to exert due pressure on the government for urgent action on the recommendations of the Sachar and Mishra Reports, particularly in respect of inclusion of Dalit Muslims in SC lists and at least 10% reservation for Muslims in public employment, education, development and welfare benefits and flow of capital resources.
It requested the Muslim organisations active in the electoral field to advise and guide the Muslim electorate at the time of General Election, to extend their support unitedly and massively, only to such secular parties which are committed to Reservation for Muslims and field adequate number of Muslim candidates, acceptable to the community in all Muslim-winnable constituencies.
It also launched the National Movement for Muslim Reservation, with faith in Allah, confidence in the cause and goodwill towards all, and appealed to the Muslim community and all Muslim organisations for their active and wholehearted participation in the Movement, unitedly rising above sectarian, baradari and political considerations and strive peacefully, in alliance with other deprived and marginalised groups for the realisation of their common long-cherished goals of progress and development of justice and equality for all.
The Muslim leadership is of the view that notwithstanding the government’s rejection, by implementing these recommendations the “weakest link” can be brought at par with other links of the fleet.