By TwoCircles.net Staff Correspondent,
Ahmedabad: Rejecting the view of Minority Affairs Minister and senior Congress leader Salman Khursheed on reservation for Muslims, Congress MP from Kishanganj in Bihar Maulana Asrarul Haque Qasmi has strongly supported the demand for Muslim reservation in job appointments.
Speaking at a function organized by the Gujarat unit of the All India Milli Council to felicitate him here on Sunday, he said an affirmative action like reservation was urgently required to uplift the condition of Muslims who have been marginalized in the country.
Making it clear that he did not want reservation on the ground of religion, he said that he wanted reservation for them on the same ground on which it had been extended to dalits and tribals.
Elaborating it, he said that dalits and tribals were given reservation because of them being the poorest communities in the country.
Stretching the same argument for Muslims who have been reported to be poorer than even dalits by the Justice(retd) Sachar Committee Report, he pleaded that it called for an affirmative action like reservation to bring Muslims at par with other communities.
At the same time, he also made it clear that economically backward Muslims should not be clubbed with any other religious group for reservation.
Later on, talking to TwoCircles.Net, he said that he had raised this issue in the Lok Sabha on July 30.
When questioned that another Muslim MP and minister in the UPA government Salman Khurshid had said that separate reservation for Muslims was not possible, Maulana Qasmi said that it was the personal opinion of Salman.
“As far as I am concerned, I firmly believe that separate reservation for Muslims is needed urgently’’, he asserted.
“The way the new UPA government conducted itself recently by taking a number of initiatives for Muslim upliftment, I am hopeful that it will also accept the demand of reservation’’, Maulana Qasmi, who played an important role in revival of the Congress party in Bihar, said.
Apart from reservation, he also stressed the need of creating infrastructure facilities like schools and colleges for Muslims.
Stating that India belonged to Muslims as much as it belonged to anyone else, he said that problems pertaining to Muslims should not be viewed as a Mjslim issue only but treated as a national issue and efforts be made to solve them in that perspective.
He warned that if Muslim problems were not solved, it would gradually weaken the country.
“You will have to give the rights that are due to Muslims. Muslims can’t be ignored any longer’’, he pointed out.
Cautioning the Muslims against the forces trying to divide the Indian society on communal lines, he underlined the need for forging unity between Hindus and Muslims to defeat the divisive forces.
Pointing out that winning the confidence of the secular and open-minded Hindus was necessary to achieve this objective, he wanted Muslims to take initiatives to promote love and brotherhood through social service and strengthen secular fabric of the country.
Asking the community members not to confine themselves to issues pertaining to Muslims only but work with other communities to fight for the rights of poor, weaker sections and suppressed classes irrespective of the caste and creed.
“It is your responsibility and you can regain your status and prestige in the society only if you develop the habit of sacrifice for others as well’’, he sermonised, saying there were no short cuts.