DR. S. AUSAF SAIED VASFI calls upon the UPA Government to think about proportional representation of Muslims in the Central and State Cabinets as well as in Parliament and State Legislatures.
Without naming UP and Bihar, the President expressed grave concern over communal tensions prevalent in some Southern States in the country. Mutual animosity is causing unease, he said and added: Nip the evil in the bud and strengthen the administration at district level. He was addressing the IPS officers of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy at Hyderabad on 7 November. Mr. Pranab Mukherjee stressed the need of understanding the spirit of the Constitution and the importance of human rights. He also advised the alumni to keep from politics and communal conflicts.
MASSIVE INFILTRATION
It would have, perhaps, never occurred to the first Home Minister of India that his own admirers would infiltrate massively into the rank and file of the Services. Otherwise, just an example, how would you explain the subversive activities indulged in by Lt. Col. Srikant Prasad Purohit and his ideological friends?
For name sake, there are Muslims in police and military. But what exactly is their percentage in the Security Forces, God alone knows. Similarly, Muslim presence in the Intelligence Department is not known. This is happening in these days of the much-talked-of transparency.
Discussion on this touchy subject would be incomplete until we refer to the bias-perpetuating circular issued by Mr. Sardar Patel, prohibiting the recruitment of Muslims in police, Intelligence and other higher Services. Has it been withdrawn? To argue that it would embarrass the Central Government is a weak case. Silence on the issue would continue to put the largest minority of the country in lurid lights. The Government must show courage. We are inclined to feel the circulars like the said one constitute a factor that is likely to show Mr. Narendra Modi more than life size.
RATIONALE, PHILOSOPHY?
Of course, the first Home Minister has never said that Muslims as a community are suspect. But what was the philosophy, the rationale and justification of the said circular? The UPA dispensation owes a cogent answer.
Dismay is the only word which can depict the ground reality if we cast a glance at the Muslim presence in jails and State Legislatures. According to the National Crime Record Research Bureau, there is a marked disparity between the rates of detention and conviction of Muslims in 22 States of the country. Jammu & Kashmir topped the list, as it is understandable. What is not understandable is the disproportionate presence of Muslims in cosmopolitan States like Maharashtra, UP, Goa, Assam and Meghalaya.
To quote the NCRB report: In Jammu & Kashmir there were 1,255 Muslim under-trials (61.55% of the prison population) in 2012. But there were only 155 (39.84%) Muslim convicts. At 14,707, Muslims accounted for 27.32% of under-trials in UP, which has the most prisoners in the country. The number of Muslim convicts was only 5,365 (20.43%).
Maharashtra showed a similar disquieting trend. Its 5,999 Muslim prisoners made 36.52% of the under-trial population and only 28.68% of the convict population.
SACHAR REPORT
It is fair to recall that the Rajinder Sachar Committee Report, in 2006, had, in fact, pointed out that the representation of Muslims in jails was significantly higher than their share in population. It was not only in Gujarat but in Maharashtra and Kerala as well. It was on 29 October, 2006, that the Indian Express also did a story on the subject.
It was only in six States, two of which happen to be in the South, that the number of Muslim convicts was higher than that of under-trials belonging to the community. Muslims in Karnataka constituted only 12.57% of under-trials, but out of them 23.8% convicts. In Tamil Nadu the percentage was 8.29 and 13.72.
CORRIDORS OF POWER
Now let us have a glance at Muslim presence in the corridors of power. We have 28 States in the country, in which 13 have no Muslim ministers. What is notable is that this fact includes all the four States ruled by the BJP, where the party has no Muslim MLA either.
A former IAS officer, Dr. Mahmood-ur-Rahman recently submitted a comprehensive report to the Maharashtra Government on the subject.
Just 57 of the total 609 ministers across the various States, or 9.35% are Muslim. Let us recall that according to the 2001 census, Muslims make a 13.43% of the population. Muslim majority J&K accounts for as many as 18 of those 57 ministers. If you take away J&K, the entire community has just 39 Muslim ministers.
Among the BJP-ruled States, be it Gujarat with 9.06% of its total population of Muslims, Chhattisgarh 4.97%, Goa 6.84% or Madhya Pradesh 6.37% Muslims have no minister or MLA belonging to the BJP or any other Saffron party. Punjab, ruled by the Akali Dal-BJP combine, also does not have a Muslim minister, although the Akali Dal’s Malerkotla MLA happens to be a Muslim.
CONGRESS-LED STATES
Now turn to the Congress-ruled States, of course to be dismayed again. In Uttarakhand, which has 11.92% Muslim population, the Congress has Muslim MLAs but none of them is a minister. The Congress-ruled Himachal Pradesh again has no Muslim minister though population there is only 2%. The Congress government in Haryana, where Muslims make up around 5.78% of the population has only one Muslim minister. But the striking example comes from Andhra Pradesh, where 10% of the population is Muslim, only one of the 37 Congress ministers is a Muslim. In Assam 3 of the 19 ministers are Muslim. What should not go unnoticed is that Assam after J&K, has the highest Muslim population, which is 30.9% of the total. The Congress-ruled Delhi has one Muslim in the 7-member cabinet.
NORTHERN STATES
In the Samajwadi Party-ruled Uttar Pradesh, 10 of the total 51 ministers are Muslim. The proportion of Muslims in the State’s population is 18.55%. The Congress-ruled Kerala, with 5 ministers out of 20 are Muslim, Muslims make up 24.6% of the State’s numbers. In West Bengal, 5 of the 44 ministers are Muslims, who comprise 25% of the State population. It should not go unnoticed here that the Sachar Committee Report gives a dressing down to the government regarding the condition of Muslim minority in the State.
In the JD(U)-ruled Bihar there are two Muslim ministers.
Northern States do not have a Muslim minister or a Muslim MLA. Meghalaya has one Muslim MLA who is also the Speaker.
We have given this boring data just to show how unpleasant is the national situation as far as Muslims are concerned. To quote the Sachar Committee Report, it is worse than Dalits’.
THINK DISPASSIONATELY
Will it be not appropriate, in this disquieting background, that the UPA Government sincerely and honestly thinks about the proportional representation of Muslims in the State Legislatures, the State Cabinets, the Parliament and the Union Cabinet?