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Round The States
11 February 2010, New
Delhi
Quota For Muslims
ANDHRA GETS JOLT, WB
GOES AHEAD
By Insaf
Conveniently ignoring the Constitution which explicitly bars
religion-based reservations, ruling parties in the States in today’s India are increasingly
doling out quotas to the Muslims as part of their vote bank politics. The
Muslims constitute about 15.4 per cent of the population. The latest on the
bandwagon are Andhra Pradesh once again and West Bengal.
While the latter has announced a 10 per cent job quota for Muslims, the Andhra Government’s
third attempt to provide reservation to the Muslims has received a rude shock.
On Monday last, a seven-member bench of the High Court struck down a State
legislation providing four per cent of reservation for Muslims in education and
public employment for 15 Muslim groups deemed backward. The Court noted that
the findings of the AP Commission for Backward Classes, which formed the basis
of the law, were “unscientific.” Further,
that the “enactment was religion-specific and potentially encouraged
conversions and was thus unsustainable”. Shockingly, the ambit of quotas has
been gradually widened from reservations for only SCs and STs, to Backward Classes,
Christians and Muslims.
While Kerala and Karnataka already have quotas in place for
Muslims, Andhra Pradesh has long struggled to do the same, but failed
thankfully. In 2004 it issued an administrative order of providing five per
cent reservation for all Muslims, relying on a report by the AP Minorities
Finance Corporation. This was struck down by the High Court. However, hell-bent
to keep its poll promise, the ruling Congress then constituted a Backward
Classes Commission and on its report brought about an enactment in 2005. This
too was rejected by the Court. Third time unlucky, the Andhra Government has
now decided to move the Supreme Court in appeal and vowed to restore the “AP
Reservation in favour of socially and educationally Classes of Muslim Act,
2007”. This despite, the sentiments of its first Prime Minister Jawaharlal
Nehru who had said: “I dislike any kind of reservation.” Clearly, both the
States and the Union Government must rethink the entire reservation policy and
a blind application of quotas. If at all, economic criteria, and not religious
identity alone should form the basis of reservation policies in any genuinely
secular country. Enough of brazen communalism.
* * * *
Quota For W Bengal Muslims
Meanwhile, the CPM-led government in West
Bengal has treaded shrewdly in the announcement by Chief Minister
Buddhadeb Bhatacharjee of 10 per cent job reservation for Muslims on Monday
last. He has made it clear that the reservation is for the socially and
educationally backward category as spelt out in Article 16 (4) of the
Constitution. Obviously, the largesse is aimed at wooing back the Muslim votes
and cementing the CPM’s hold in Malda, Murshidabad and South 24 Parganas
districts as none of the other minority backward communities namely the
Buddhists and Christians have got any relief. Bhattacharjee has justified his
decision on the basis of the Ranganath Mishra Commission report that recommends
10 per cent reservations for Muslims and five per cent for other minorities. He
said: “The State has seven per cent of reservation of seats for the OBCs. This
category will now be extended and there will be 17 per cent reservation for
backward Muslims.” Remember, Backward
Muslims comprise 25 per cent of the population of the State. The CPM suffered heavily
in the last Lok Sabha polls following an erosion of its traditional Muslim
support base.
* * * *
States’ Kudos To
Centre
The Centre’s handling of internal security has received a
shot in the arm with the Opposition-led and Maoist-affected States
going along with its strategy. In fact, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram came
in for praise from unexpected quarters. At the conference of Chief Ministers on
internal security held in the Capital on Sunday last, Gujarat’s
Narendra Modi, complimented the Minister and his ministry for their “swift and
positive” response to the requests from States. (remember, he went hammer and
tongs against the centre over price rise, the previous day at a meeting chaired
by the PM) Modi’s sentiments were warmly shared by his counterparts in
BJP-ruled States-- Raman Singh of Chhattisgarh and Shivraj Singh Chouhan of
Madhya Pradesh. Bihar’s Nitish Kumar said “the
States were looking to work closely with the Centre” and sought assistance in
procuring sophisticated weapons required for anti-terrorists operations. Proxy
wars cannot be fought by mere anti-terror laws.
* * * *
Maoist-Hit States
To Join Strategy
Likewise, the meeting between Chidambaram and leaders of the
four Maoists-affected States of Orissa, West Bengal, Bihar
and Jharkhand ended on a positive note on Tuesday last. Dispelling rumours of
differences over strategy, the Centre and these States have agreed to take on
the Maoists. The four States have given the nod to the Centre to chalk out
integrated inter-State operations. According to Chidambaram “within the next
six months, we hope to reclaim all Maoist-dominated areas and make sure that
civil administration is firmly in place.” At the same time, he has given an
assurance that the Centre was “willing to hold talks with the Maoist, if they
were willing to halt violence.” The purpose of the operation, he clarified “is
not to kill anyone; these are own people, we care for them.” Significantly, the
Maoists-backed Police Santarsh Birodhi janasadharaner has responded positively
by offering to hold unconditional talks with the Centre as well as the West
Bengal Government!
* * * *
Peace In Darjeeling
Hills?
Peace may just return to the Darjeeling hills if all goes well.
Notwithstanding its agitational posturing of hunger strikes, road blocks etc,
the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) spearheading the demand for a separate
Gorkhaland appears to be in a conciliatory mood. The Centre has got feelers
from the GJM chief, Bimal Gurung that an interim administrative arrangement
such as a Council instead of a separate State would be acceptable till at least
the Assembly election in 2011. Indications are that the GJM is also having
second thoughts on its territorial demand of including areas of the Dooars
region in North Bengal as well as plains of the Darjeeling district, where the non-Gorkha
community is predominant. Much of the opposition has come from a wide section
of the local tribals here. The GJM’s
latest proposal may turn out to be a solution as in the last tripartite meeting
held between the GJM, the West Bengal
government and the Centre, the latter two were willing to offer a Council “with
more powers and autonomy”. All eyes are now on the fifth round of the tripartite
talks at the political level, as demanded by the GJM.
* * * *
Cong Wins Rajasthan Polls
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has reason to be
upbeat. His ruling Congress continues to be on a winning streak in the State.
It has virtually swept the recent panchayat polls by establishing its majority
in 26 of the 33 Zilla Parsihads (district councils). The BJP was able to retain
its hold only in seven Zilla parishads. Of the 1, 013 posts, the Congress won
603, the BJP 364, the CPM, 7, the BSP, three and Independents 36. This is Gehlot’s
fourth victory since coming to power in 2008 and his party has been able to
establish a lead in a majority of the 245 panchayat samitis as well. Of the
5273 posts in the samitis, the Congress bagged 2, 585 posts as against BJP’s
1,806. Interestingly, Independents tallied far better than BSP’s 54 posts and CPM’s 50, with a tally of 777
posts. The Congress claims that with this kind of a mandate “the
decentralization of power is soon going to be a reality in the State.” ---INFA
(Copyright,
India News & Feature Alliance)
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