By TCN News,
New Delhi: Lok Sabha Member and All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) president Maulana Badruddin Ajmal demanded 10 present reservation for Muslims in employment, education and legislature. In a detailed letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and all ministries concerned to the reservation issue Maulana Badruddin Ajmal said, ‘reservation for Muslims is overdue for last 63 years’.
While recounting modern Indian history one finds that following India’s independence and unfortunate partition a historic bill was passed in the constituent parliament of India. On 28th August 1947, a bill was passed to ensure political reservation for scheduled castes (SCs) and the Muslims. During a debate on ‘Report on Minority Rights’, SCs and Muslims were classified as ‘minorities’ and the Constituent Assembly passed the bill guaranteeing proportionate reservation for them in the legislative houses.
Later, some members smartly made an amendment to the bill stating that the SCs were part of the Hindu community and not minority. Maulana Syed Fazlul Hasan Hasrat Mohani (1875 – 1951), the eminent freedom fighter and a member of constituent assembly, objected to the use of word ‘minority’ for ‘Muslims’ alone. And two years later, the ‘Muslim’ word was removed from the list of reservation beneficiaries. While the SCs, who were technically members of the majority ‘Hindu community’, are reaping the benefits of reservation till date and the Muslims are forced to live with just the tag of being a ‘minority’.
Maulana Ajmal also stated that Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind has been demanding for Muslim reservation every now and then since independence. “In 1983 at a national convention of Jamiat (Jalsa-e A’am) in Mumbai’s Azad Maidan where I was present too Maulana Syed As’ad Madni (1928-2006) strongly argued for Muslim reservation in jobs, education and politics and passed a unanimous resolution which reads, ‘Muslim should avail reservation exactly as SCs and STs had constitutionally got,” said Ajmal, the MP from Dhubri in Assam.
Justice Sachar Committee report is an official document in line with Gupal commission’s findings. It is an eye-opener for the apathetic educational, economic and overall social condition of Muslims nationwide. Following the Sachar report the Justice Ranganath Mihsra Report has conceded 15 per cent reservation for minorities in education and employment where he also recommended 10 per cent of it for Muslim minority alone. It is time to take honest steps by the parliament on the Mishra report and “I strongly demand for it from the ruling UPA government”, Maulana Ajmal said.
It is notable that three out of ten Muslims in the country are below poverty line living on less than Rs 550 a month as in the Indian Human Development survey conducted by the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER). The report released recently added that even among the poor, urban Muslims were better off compared to those in villages, who survived on Rs 338 a month during the year under review, NCAER said.
Muslim reservation or in some text minority reservation is a long pending issue. Some states like Kerala, Tamil Nadu and of late Andhra Pradesh have already given meager reservation to Muslim which are being proven very effective for the beneficiaries. Therefore, Maulana Ajmal said, “I request the present government in the Centre to work practically while legislating 10 percent reservation for Muslim in India. I am sure it would boost minority confidence and help the nation and Muslim community at large.”