By TCN News,
New Delhi: Speaking to the press reporter here at his offce Maulana Mahmood Madani, General Secretary, Jamiat Ulama-i- Hind said that to ensure equal share in development, for every citizen irrespective of his cast and creed is important not only for maintaining peace and justice, it is also critical for the progress and stability of the country.
The Sachar Committee and Ranganath Misra Commission have proved grave injustice against Muslims. They have not only highlighted their root causes but also recommended remedial measures. Based Congress Party had to pass resolution for reservation for Muslims on the eve of its 125th anniversary cerebrations in 2010. Before 2009 general election, almost all secular parties incorporated promises of reservation for Muslims in their manifestos. During UP assembly election, SP had promised to provide 18 % reservation to Muslims. “Nevertheless, neither the central government whose second stint in power is nearing completion nor the UP government has taken any steps to fulfill their promise. They have gone back on their commitments and proved that all their promises were only lip-service,” charged Madani.
Maulana Mahmood Madani (center) and others
He asserted that at this juncture, we would like to make it clear that our demand for reservation is not extra-constitutional rather we are only reiterating for our rights guaranteed under the constitution thus our demand for reservation to Muslims is not based on religion rather we are demanding for abrogation of discrimination against Muslims on the basis of religion. We firmly believe that any demand on the ground of religion in secular system of government is absurd and impractical. At the same time we have to ensure that discrimination on the basis of religion is not allowed against any community. Discrimination in article 341 which contravenes provisions of Article 14 (Equality before law) article 15(Prohibition of discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth) article 16 (Equality of opportunity in matters of public employment) is not acceptable to us. As far our demands, nowhere do they contradict the spirit of the constitution but have firmly rooted in the article 15 clause 5 which allows making any special provision, by law, for the advancement of any socially and educationally backward classes of citizens. Therefore overlooking the most persecuted community is betrayal of constitution of the country.
He said at present, amongst the various problems facing the community, the issues of proportionate reservation according to its ratio of total population, introduction of communal violence bill and illegal detention of innocent persons call for immediate attention. These issues are not only interconnected to each other but have far reaching implications on the life of every Indian especially the Muslim community. In the wake of every bomb blast, the ATS and intelligence agencies especially target minorities. The same attitude was repeated after Hyderabad bomb blasts. If your look at series of blasts in the country, it appears that framed, damned, acquitted has become the fate of Muslim youths. They have to suffer even 19 years in jail, many of whose families & lives they have destroyed, apart from tainting an entire community with a deep sense of guilt & fear.
The recurring communal violence is no less harsh than terrorism, like terrorism, Muslims have to bear the same amount of brunt in the communal riots. Most of these riots were police actions targeted against a particular community. The various national and international human rights organizations have established shameful involvement of the administration and police in fanning the violence. It is a harsh reality that the members of community which suffer the most in riots, fall prey to the police hunting after riots. Only in Maharashtra Muslims account for 10.6% (2001 survey) of the general population, yet they comprise 36 % of the prison population. It is a joke that if the number of Muslim prison inmates in Maharashtra keeps increasing at the current pace, every jail will soon have an Eidgah. These are impediments that have blocked progress of the nation.
We feel it is high time to initiate interaction at the grass root level to find out how far the government has been able to remove the hurdles in the way of reservation to the most marginalized sections despite assurances and why the government failed to accommodate and satisfy the long pending demands of the minorities for reinforcement of right to protection of life and property, right to freedom of religion and equality through the required legislation, when it will come out with high degree of professional & moral accountability for the ATS and intelligence agencies as they just cannot play with the lives of ordinary people.
With that in view, in order to focus national attention and to put democratic pressure upon UPA govt. to fulfill its commitment to minorities the National Executive of Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind has decided to hold Insaaf March on March 5, 2013 at Talkatora Stadium, New Delhi. In this regard, we appeal to all justice loving persons and institutions to support our demands for the sake of inclusive development of the country. We also appeal to the BJP to stand for justice and, instead of opposing any effort for uplift of minorities, should realize the fact that the country cannot achieve inclusive development if 20 crores of its citizens are forced to live a miserable life. Therefore creating hurdles in the way of their development is tantamount to creating hurdles in country’s development.