By Mumtaz Alam Falahi, TwoCircles.net,
The current Muslim Members of Indian Parliament, though are not exclusive representatives of Muslims as they have come from mixed constituencies, very much reflect the present social condition of their community – less education, more children. The fact is more vivid in North-South comparison.
Among 57 Muslim MPs (Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha together), one MP has not got any formal education. Four MPs are school dropouts. Two are matriculates. And four others could get only madrasa education.
One who could not get any formal education is Mohammed Amin, Rajya Sabha Member from West Bengal. The four under matriculate, a euphemism for school dropout, are: Nurul Islam, Lok Sabha, West Bengal, Kaiser Jahan, Lok Sabha, Uttar Pradesh, Kadir Rana, Lok Sabha, Uttar Pradesh, and Muhammad Ali Khan, Rajya Sabha, Andhra Pradesh.
The matriculates are: Begum Tabassum, Lok Sabha, Uttar Pradesh, and KE Ismail, Rajya Sabha, Kerala.
The four MPs who got only madrasa education (Alim or Fazil) are: Maulana Badruddin Ajmal, Lok Sabha, Assam, Maulana Asrarul Haque Qasmi, Lok Sabha, Bihar, Maulana Mahmood Madani, Rajya Sabha, Uttar Pradesh – all three are pass-outs of Darul Uloom Deoband – and Ahmed Saieed Malihabadi, Rajya Sabha, West Bengal.
The heavy majority of these 11 MPs are from North India. North India Muslim MPs maintain the same majority when it comes to having more children. Take a look at the size of the family of Muslim MPs.
The average number of children of a Muslim MP is 3.39. While the average number for MPs from North India is 3.43, for the South India MPs it is 3.25. While only one South India MP has 5 children there are nine from North who have 5 or more children – Maulana Badruddin Ajmal and Sabir Ali have seven children each.
Mohammed Amin: 4 children
Nurul Islam: 4 children
Kadir Rana: 6 children
Mohd Ali Khan: 4 children
KE Ismail: 4 children
Badruddin Ajmal: 7 children
Asrarul Haque: 5 children
Mahmood Madani: 4 children
Ahmed Saeed Malihabadi: 4 children
Of 57 MPs, three have no children while one preferred to remain bachelor. Begum Noor has recently married and another, perhaps the youngest MP, Hamdullah Sayeed, is yet to marry.
Another interesting aspect is that Elders (Members of Rajya Sabha) have more children than those of Lok Sabha. The average number of children of Muslim Lok Sabha MPs is 3.30 while it is 3.48 for Rajya Sabha MPs.
However, among the Muslim MPs there are many Masters (17), Law Graduates (12) and MBBS (2) and graduates (15) also. Many of North India MPs have these higher degrees.
The total number of South India Muslim MPs in the Parliament is only 14. The rest 43 are from North. Yet, the overall condition of the constituencies/community that the North India MPs represent is very pathetic — this is more disturbing part of the story.