By Mohd. Ismail Khan, TwoCircles.net,
Hyderabad: ‘Reservation for the backward Muslims is the only way for the inclusive development of India’s second largest majority.’ This was stressed by many intellectuals in the seminar on ‘Reservation for Muslims in India – a Step towards Inclusive Development’ here on 19th March. The two-day seminar was organized by Center for the Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy, Maulana Azad National Urdu University (MANUU).
After the welcome and introductory speeches by Prof. Kancha Ilaiah and Dr. P.H. Mohammad both from MANUU, the program kick started with the keynote address of Prof Faizan Mustafa, vice chancellor of NALSAR Law University. Prof Mustafa stressed on the role of the judiciary and law for the implementation of Muslim reservation.
He said “religion is not a road block for providing reservation. If that is so as claimed by many anti-reservation activists then it is equally forbidden to provide reservation on the basis of caste under article 15”. In his speech Prof Mustafa kept on reminding the audience that Muslims are not a monolithic community. He said “Muslims consist of different sects and communities, the Dalits who were converted to Islam have not let go there identity and culture, they continued to work in the same occupation and remain backward even after converting their religion, while Hindu backwards are getting benefited their equal counterparts in Islam are still lagging behind”.
Making a point that law is a tool for social development he said, “Law should be a potent instrument for social change and development. The very concept of rule of law is not just for providing law & order but to promote a more egalitarian society which A.P high court should have kept in mind before giving its anti-Muslim reservation judgment”. He said in earlier days of independence Muslims were more worried about their life and property, till the end of 20th century they were fighting to keep their own separate identity, now they want a just if not equal share in the nation’s growth story. But he also cautioned Muslims that they should be beware of Muslim appeaser’s parties who will just make false promises of quotas within the quota.
After the keynote address vice chancellor of MANUU Prof. Mohammad Miyan formally inaugurated the two-day seminar. In his brief inaugural address Prof. Miyan asked Muslims to work closely with their brothers in other communities and try their best to not communalize the whole movement of reservation for depressed Muslims.
Mr. P.S. Krishna who was appointed by the A.P Govt to find out the depressed groups among Muslims who where eligible for reservation, spoke on his work. His extensive report made a big breakthrough for the A.P Muslims to get 4.5% reservation in the state. Mr. Krishna gave extensive outlook to the audience on his work to find out backward sections among Muslims. He reiterates that 80% of Muslim community in India consist of former SCs, STs and OBCs who got converted to Islam to get place in the society, but unfortunately majority of them remained depressed because the certain elements of casteism got penetrated in Indian Muslims. There are Dhobis, Barbers, Chammars, Lohars, and even scavengers among Muslims; so just because their religion is different should they be denied fair opportunities, he asked the A.P high court which had given the judgment against Muslim reservation citing that 2,500 page report made by Mr. Krishnan as incomplete. Mr. Krishnan said that his report was not incomplete but rather the honorable judges were wearing the garb of protector of status quo rather wearing the garb of reformers while delivering the judgment.
The seminar had the speakers from around the country; the two-day seminar was divided in 5 sessions with every session containing intellectual speakers from different social fields speaking on different social topics. Nearly 25 intellectual speakers from around the nation gave their views on the need of reservation for backward Muslims. Some of the noted speakers of first two sessions of day one were Prof. Sheikh Rahim Mondal from University of North Bengal, Prof. Vishweshar Rao, HOD, mass communication MANUU, Prof. Muzaffar Assadi from University of Mysore, Dr. K.M. Sajjad Ibrahim from University of Kerala, Maqbool Ahmed Siraj, chief editor, Islamic voice Bangalore.
Day two was equally interesting and informative. Speakers like Prof. S.N. Thripathy G.I.E.P Pune, Dr. Abdul Waheed from AMU Aligarh, Dr. Arshad Alam from JMI New Delhi, Shafiq-ur-Rehman Muhajir, A.P high court advocate, Sheikh Moinuddin from University of Delhi spoke in different sessions on different issues. Prof Zoya Hassan Dean, school of social sciences, JNU New Delhi, gave the valedictory speech to end the seminar.
All the speakers in different ways tried to give one message that Islam and Muslim community are two different aspects; Islam doesn’t need reservation for development while it is the Muslim community which is in the urgent need of reservation for social inclusiveness.
The seminar was attended by many young students and research scholars, who were having a keen interest to have more knowledge about issue of reservation for backward Muslims. Mohd Masood a student of law and one of the attendees of the seminar told to TCN that seminar was informative and created more awareness in his mind regarding the present situation of Muslims and reservation as a way to remove the backwardness among his community.