By TCN News,
Bangalore: While welcoming the West Bengal government’s decision to give 10% reservation to Muslims in the OBC category the Popular Front of India has demanded that the state Muslims should have at least 20% quota given their population there. PFI has termed the decision of Andhra Pradesh High Court to quash the 4% reservation to Muslims there as unfortunate and one revealing communal bias.
“Popular Front of India welcomes the decision of the West Bengal state government to earmark 10% for ‘Backward Muslims’, even though a specific reaction to the issue is not possible now because an executive order is still awaited. However we learn that the government plan is to include much more Muslims occupational groups to the list of Other Backward Classes who enjoy at present 7% reservation in employment. So far only 2% share of OBC reservation is enjoyed by Muslims who constitute 26% of the state population. It is not clear whether the new quota will be over and above the existing 7% raising the total OBC quota into 17% and also whether the new 10% quota will be separately reserved for Muslims,” said OMA Salam, party secretary.
PFI has urged the West Bengal government to follow the Kerala model.
“According to the available official statistics, the present share of Muslims in state government is below 4%. Hence in order to achieve the target of adequate representation on par with population strength, the new quota of 10% is not sufficient. We demand the state government to make the Muslim quota minimum 20%. The Misra Commission has recommended 10% in the central service and education based on the all India Muslim population of 13.4%. It is also worth notice that Kerala Muslims are entitled to get 12% reservation, even though their population percentage is less than that in West Bengal. Let the West Bengal take the model from Kerala which is also being ruled by CPI (M) led Left Front.”
“We would like to bring to the notice of West Bengal government that a class of people is eligible for reservation based on their relative backwardness and the Muslim community in the state is proved to be more backward than all other communities including the Hindu OBCs who now enjoy reservation. Hence it is unjust to exclude any section of Muslim community from reservation and to limit the benefit to a few groups among them. As it prevails in Kerala and Karnataka since many years, there are no constitutional and legal constraints to declare the entire Muslim community as a backward class eligible for reservation.”
Also we urge the West Bengal government to extend the job reservation benefit to all quasi-government sections, cooperative sector, companies with government share and public sector undertakings. Separate quota of seats are to be reserved for Muslims in admission to educational institutions at all levels including all under -graduate, post graduate, technical and professional courses.
“The decision of the Andhra Pradesh High Court which once again quashed state government decision to earmark 4% reservation to Muslims is unfortunate and reveals the communal and casteist bias that governs a section of the judiciary. The observation that Andhra Pradesh act is religion-specific and potentially an encouragement to conversion, is baseless and highly prejudiced. This reference to conversion shows the influence of Hindutva mentality and is unwarranted,” said PFI secretary.
The developments in West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh are indications for the Muslim community to continue the struggle for the fulfillment of their right to equity and justice.
Popular Front of India has begun a two-month long National Campaign for Muslim Reservation from Pune on 31st January 2010. As part of this campaign, West Bengal state committee of PFI has started a caravan today from Kolkata which will conclude with a mass meeting in Musrshidabad on 20th February after covering all the Muslim dominated regions in the state. Similar programmes are being undertaken in other states also.
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