Yogendra Yadav, a renowned psephologist and political leader, interacted with Muslims and urged them to think of a long-term plan for their educational, political and socio-religious upliftment. Yadav was addressing a gathering of Muslims organised by SIO, Student Islamic Organisation in the national capital on 6 May.
Explaining some of the minority problems, Mr. Yadav said that there is no minority problem in India; for the status of Sikhs, Jains, Parsis and Christians are better educationally and economically. Only Muslims are backward. They are facing simultaneously three serious problems: Deprivation, Disadvantage and Discrimination. After the Partition, the creamy layer of the Muslim community went to Pakistan that harmed the community profoundly. It led the Muslims to deprivation. He also said that the story of disadvantaged Muslim community has been rightly portrayed by the Sachar Committee. But, unfortunately, this committee has gone finished after speaking the truth. It did nothing for the betterment of this disadvantaged lot. The third thing is discrimination that Muslims are facing widely in society while interacting and dealing with other communities. And the Muslims who are acquitted in a case of terror face discrimination everywhere.
Speaking on how to deal with these challenges, Mr. Yadav said there are two ways. One is what can we do in government policies and the other is what we can do in politics. In case of doing in government policies, generally Muslim leaders demand reservation. But reservation is not right way. The reason is that when the case of reservation comes, he told the audience, the Supreme Court will reject it because the Constitution does not permit reservation on the basis of religion. And the second thing is that when the case of granting reservation emerges, it will be the biggest political question in the country that will benefit communal parties.
The learned speaker also said that we will have to look for other options. The biggest solution is to provide educational opportunity to great extent. “You will not get solution unless you address the educational problem. He also said that sometimes he thought the whole property of Waqf should be utilised to provide educational opportunity besides other religious activities.
Commenting on secular politics, Mr. Yadav said that secular politics has become only rhetoric. Secular parties have made Muslims their hostage. They did nothing for Muslims but rather took their votes by saying that their life was at stake and anything could happen at any time. He added that Muslims should stand for building the nation. But he warned Muslims against Muslim politics, saying that it would divide the country on the bases of religions. BJP will get benefit of that. He also criticised the traditional leaders of Muslims, saying they are doing only the job of brokers. He urged youth to come forward and lead the nation.