By Mohammed Siddique, TwoCircles.net,
Hyderabad : In a politically significant development the resolution passed by the state legislative assembly seeking 33% reservation for the backward classes in the legislative bodies has also included Muslims in the list of possible beneficiaries.
The resolution initially talked of only the backward classes but after a Muslim political party insisted that the reservation should also be meant for the Muslims, who are part of the backward classes list, the Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy accepted the amendment and included the name Muslims in the reservation.
However the BJP opposing the inclusion of Muslims withdrew its support to the resolution but all other parties extended their support.
The Chief Minister pointed out that as the Muslim community was brought under the backward classes definition, there was no need for any specific mention. In another amendment to the resolution the 33 per cent reservation has also been sought in Parliament apart from the state legislative assembly and council.
Akbaruddin Owaisi, the floor leader of Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen raised the demand for inclusion of Muslims in the resolution saying they were most under represented section of the society in the legislative bodies.
Pointing out that Muslims constitute 8.9% of the state population, Akbar said, “they should get at least 26 seats in the assembly but in 2004 elections only 11 Muslims were elected to the assembly”.
He said same was the situation at other levels from Parliament to the Panchayat bodies. There are only two MPs out of the 42 elected from Andhra Pradesh. There was not a single Muslim among the 22 Zilla Parishad chairmen. Only 13 of the 1096 Zilla Parishad members were Muslims and of the 14670 Mandal Parishad members only 251 were Muslims. There were 1096 Mandal Parishad presidents and only four of them were Muslims and of the 21914 Panchayat Sarpanches only 214 were Muslims.
Reeling out the figures in the state assembly Akbaruddin Owaisi said that only in 1957 the highest number of 12 Muslims were elected to the state assembly and from then on the figure remained between 8 and 11 in different elections.
Giving the reason for moving the resolution the Chief Minister said though the backward classes constitute the majority of population in the state their representation in the legislature was negligible.
The resolution has urged the central government to accept the resolution and bring an amendment to the constitution reserving one third of the assembly and Lok Sabh seat in Andhra Pradesh for the backward classes.