By Mumtaz Alam Falahi, TwoCircles.net,
New Delhi: As part of its long battle for reservation to Dalit Muslims the All India Pasmanda Muslim Mahaz today organized a program in New Delhi and demanded the Central Government to amend the Constitutional Order of 1950 to include Dalit Muslims in the list of Scheduled Castes. He also demanded tabling of the Ranganath Mishra Commission Report in the Parliament. The report has recommended 10% reservation for Muslims.
Speaking at a seminar on Ranganath Mishra Commission recommendations and women reservation, organized by Mahaz in collaboration with the National Council of Dalit Christians, Ali Anwar Ansari, national president of the Mahaz and Member of Rajya Sabha, said there is a need for the Muslim community to put focus on one or two issues at a time, otherwise they won’t be able to force the government to accept their demand.
L-R: Ali Anwar, Dr Cosmon Arokiarej, Maulana Junaid Banarsi, Mujtaba Farooq, Aziz Pasha (MP)
He said forcing the government to include Dalit Muslims in SC and to table the Ranganath Mishra Commission Report in the Parliament must be the top priority of the community.
“Muslims and Christians of Scheduled Caste Origin (Dalit Muslims and Dalit Christians) have been struggling for their equal rights for more than half century. They are denied equal status in their own communities, the society perceives them as untouchables and they do not get benefits of Scheduled Caste status because they profess a religion of their choice,” Anwar said demanding amendment in the Constitutional Order of 1950 to include both Dalit Muslims and Dalit Christians in the SC list.
“The third paragraph of the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order 1950 stipulates that ‘no person who professes a religion different from Hinduism shall be deemed to be a member of Scheduled Caste.’ Even a cursory reading of the Order reveals its discriminatory nature. By restricting the benefits to particular religion, the Order has divided the entire Dalit community on the basis of religion. Instead of socio-economic and educational backwardness arising out of the traditional practice of untouchability being the criterion, religion becomes criterion for Scheduled Caste reservation,” he said.
On women reservation Anwar said that if the Women Reservation Bill is passed in its present form it will drastically decrease the number of Muslim MPs in Parliament. Demanding reservation with reservation he said percentage for Muslim and other backward classes women should be fixed in the Women Reservation Bill.
Talking to TwoCircles.net on Ranganath Mishra Commission report on the sideline of the program, JD-U MP Ali Anwar said he is lobbying with other MPs and leaders to put pressure on the government to table the report. The commission was set up by UPA, not by NDA, then why they are not tabling it is surprising.
When asked why you and other Muslim MPs stop the House proceeding on Ranganath Report issue, he said it is a painful reality that Muslim MPs are not getting united on the issue. Once they are united no government, let alone Congress, can ignore the issue, he maintained.
Addressing the seminar, Dr Cosmon Arokiarej, Executive Secretary, National Council of Dalit Christians, said that to force the government for the demand of inclusion of Dalit Muslims and Dalit Christians in SC there is a need big movement. “There is a need for mass movement for social justice to force Parliament, Government and media to listen us,” the Christian leader said.
Mujtaba Farooque, political affairs secretary, Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, expressed his concern that instead of tabling the Ranganath Mishra Report in Parliament Congress leader and Minority Affairs Minister Salman Khursheed is trying to divert the issue by talking about uplift of Muslims through some other means rather than reservation.
Maulana Abdul Hameed Nomani, Asst General Secretary, Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind, also said that Dalit Muslims and Dalit Christians should be included in SC. He also expressed the need to check whether 8.5% reservation for Muslims within OBC reservation is properly implemented. He called upon the sections which do not need reservation in Muslim society to come forward and help their brothers who need it.