Political Diary

New Delhi, 13 February 2010

Beyond Muslim Quotas

COURT: K(H)ANNOT  DO

By Poonam I Kaushish

Religion clearly is the flavor of the week. A sad reflection of our times, where quotas and queues are the all-season favourites. And people compartmentalized for sacrifice at the altar of creed politics. Be it Shiv Sena’s rabble-rousing over Bollywood star Shahrukh Khan “Indianess” and trying strong-arm tactics to stall his much-hyped film ‘My name is Khan’ in Mumbai.  Or State Government’s merrily converting positive affirmation into vote percentage. No matter, that it is the most un-Indian thing to do and pushes India back a century!

Kudos to the Andhra Pradesh High Court for striking down the Congress State Government’s Muslim Quota Bill providing 4% reservation to the 15 backward groups of Muslims in education & Government jobs passed in July 2007,. Describing it as “unsustainable” as it was religion-specific and potentially encouraged conversions, a 7-member Bench of the Court rejected the bill by 5 to 2 votes and observed: “The recommendations of the AP Backward Classes Commission -- on which the quota law had been based is unscientific.

“The Commission neither evolved any criteria nor published these before inviting objections. It had merely stated it had followed the two criteria evolved by the Mandal Commission for identification of (Socially Economic Backward Classes) SEBCs among non-Hindu community. The investigation by the panel was not based on real facts, data or analysis and without proper survey wherein the Commission limited its survey to 6 districts in three days.”

But the last word has still to be said. Recall, Recall, in 2004 and 2005 the State Government had earmarked 5% reservations for the entire Muslim community (excluding the creamy layer) first by issuing a Government order and subsequently by promulgating an ordinance. But both times the Andhra Pradesh High Court played spoilsport and struck it down as the overall reservations would exceed the ceiling. The Government then declared 15 Muslim groups as backward and enacted another law in 2007 that was struck down last week. The Muslims account for about 9% of the 76 m population in Andhra.

If this rap to a State was not bad news, the West Bengal CPM Government jumped feet first and announced 10% reservation in jobs for socially and educationally backward Muslims in the State. On the facetious plea that the yardstick of a modern democracy in measuring its success was status and welfare of the smallest of minorities. Plainly, that with polls just a year away it desperately needs the minority votes to stay in power. Never mind that the status of Muslims in the State is way down the social and economic ladder, according to the Sachar Committee report.

The moot point is clear. When does minorityism supercede equality assured by our Constitution? Are quotas based on religion and community the answer for maintaining India’s social fabric? And more important, it’s crucial harmony? How does it better the lot of the mass of Muslims, if a few persons get jobs? Is the Muslim identity distinct from that of the Indian? Is he an Indian Muslim or a Muslim Indian?

Importantly, reservation per se goes against Article 15(1) of the Indian Constitution. It not only divides the people but also harms national unity, integrity and fraternity. Besides, violating the doctrine of secularism that grants equal rights to all citizens irrespective of their religion. We must keep in mind that the framers of the Constitution had explicitly decided against religion-based reservations.

Besides, backward Muslims, who form the bulk of the community, have already been included in the list of OBCs, entitled for reservations on the basis of their socio-economic condition. Which is within the Constitutional framework. Karnataka has done precisely that as there is no empirical evidence or data or population figures.

There is no gainsaying, that the Government’s fundamental mission is to uplift the poor and the backward classes, educate and provide them equal opportunities. However, the problem arises when our netagan in their quest for votes recklessly calculate reservation on the basis of labelling the minorities, Muslims and Christians, as backward or dalits for availing the quotas. Knowing full well that Islam does not accept any casteism and therefore no Islamic country provides reservations to the poor among the Muslims by labelling them dalits or backwards.

Besides, we also need to remember that if reservations based on castes are bad, affirmative action on communal basis is horrendous. It cannot be justified by ominous reasoning that it would bring the Muslims into the mainstream and ensure harmony between the majority and the minority communities. Moreover, it would prevent Muslims from being exploited any more as vote-banks by the so-called secular parties.

True, Muslims, like Hispanic and Afro-Americans in the US, lag behind in socio-economic development. Data collated by Sachar and others show that socio-economic indicators for Muslims were below those for OBCs in many cases. (Recall also that most well-to-do Muslims, barring their lowest rung, left for Pakistan in 1947, a fact overlooked by Sachar) About 59% were illiterate, only 10% went to school and a mere 8% opted for higher education. Worse, even as they were vastly under-represented in official jobs, they were grossly over-represented in India’s prison population.

But, an economic criteria, rather than religious identity, should form the basis of a reservation policy. One way forward would be introducing a deprivation index wherein points are awarded for disadvantages based on caste, community, gender, type of schooling and family background. Which would take into account different indicators of inequality among the needy from religious and ethnic minorities for affirmative action.

Tragically, so blinded are our politicians in their quest for power that none can see the Frankenstein they recklessly continue to create. By giving legitimacy to a communal quota, religious bigotry at its most ferocious could end up in carving once more a blood-stained path across our country. Clearly, this could sow the poisonous seeds for a new communal movement and separate electorates inspired by the two-nation theory that tragically led to India’s partition.

What next? Unless we stem the rot, the day is not far when Muslims could once again demand communal representation both in the legislative assemblies of the States and in Parliament. It must desist from sowing the seeds of another partition.

In the ultimate, our petty power-at all-cost polity has to think beyond vote-bank politics and look at the perilous implications of their decisions. Vote-bank politics must not be allowed to continue recklessly and play havoc with India’s unity and integrity and progress. The Government must rethink the entire reservation policy and stop the blind application of quotas. Time to think beyond quotes and queues and put its foot down and assert: Reservations K(h)annot do! ---- INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)