Muslim organizations in the country are gearing up to counter the major political parties of the country over denial of reservation to Muslims as per Article 341 of the Indian Constitution. As per them, denial of reservation to Scheduled Caste Muslims is nothing but a conspiracy as Scheduled Caste persons belonging to Hindu, Sikh and Buddhist community continue to get reservation under the provisions of this article. Syed Mahmood Naqvi, Editor of a prominent Urdu paper - Hadees-e-Dil - and President of Muslim Friends Society and Dr. M.A. Siddiqui (Vice President - All India United Muslim Morcha) have separately initiated the cause of Muslim reservation under provisions of Article 341. It is to be reminded that when India became free, the section of society that was lagging behind the rest was given the benefit of reservation under the newly formed constitution through Articles 340, 341 and 342. Article 340 dealt with the reservation of the backwards and in this those who were from similar profession were given the reservation, even so belonging to whatever religion. Article 342 dealt with the reservation of the Scheduled Tribes and whosoever came under this category, to whatever religion he or she belongs, if he was an Indian, he was entitled to benefits under reserved category. Till this date, Muslims who belonged to backward class or scheduled tribes are being given reservation under Article 340 and Article 342. PM Sayeed is an example who remained an MP from a seat reserved for Scheduled Tribes for about 37 years. But the maximum percentage of Muslim population comes under Scheduled Caste category and it is here where special laws were framed to deny Muslims of reservation. Most of the people who embraced Islam during medieval period were Dalit Hindus who accepted this religion because it promised equality to them. The Dalits also converted in large numbers to Buddhist, Sikh and Christian religion due to the same reasons. These Dalits were educationally, financially and socially backward and it was requisite that they be given reservation like other Dalits. Prior to 1950, from 1935 onwards, Dalits irrespective of their religion, were being given the benefit of reservation. However, in 1950, Dalits were divided on religious lines and those belonging to other religions were kept out of reservation. As per a special Presidential order of 1950, it was stated that only Dalits belonging to Hindu religion would henceforth be given reservation. It was also stated that if these Muslim Dalits convert back to Hinduism, they would become entitled to reservation. This was contrary to Articles 14,15,16 of the Constitution which sees no distinction or division of benefits on the basis of religion. In fact all others, other than Hindus, were denied reservation under Scheduled Caste category but when Master Tara Singh led an agitation in 1956, Dalit Sikhs were brought under the reservation. Later in 1990, Dalit Buddhists too were allowed benefits under Article 341 but Muslims, majority of whom would have benefited from it were denied and a special clause inviting Muslims to reconvert to Hinduism was placed. Dr. MA Siddiqui whose organization All India United Muslim Morcha has been spearheading the campaign to bring Dalit Muslims under Article 341 says: "This was done because of a conspiracy to devoid Muslims of a chance of development at equal pace with the rest of the society. If the Sachar Committee report mentions the pitiable situation of the Muslims, it is all courtesy this order. While on one hand, people are talking of Muslim appeasement, truth is that Muslims lagged behind because of a conspiracy. The planners didn't realize that if 15 crore people, which is a size bigger than the population of many countries, remain behind, how can one expect the nation to develop." Avers Syed Mahmood Naqvi of Muslim Friends Society: "If Congress is really serious about doing something for the Muslims, it should amend the past mistakes and bring out concrete proposals to benefit the deprived lot among the Muslim community." This is to be mentioned that even the Sachar Committee report has suggested that Muslims should be given reservation under Article 341 but Arjun Singh, Minister for Human Resource Development, recently commented that the Government was not bound to act according to Sachar Committee Report as regards to Article 341 thereby casting a doubt on Congress's intentions regarding this. Trying to join Article 341 with vote, All India United Muslim Morcha is claiming that henceforth Muslims would vote for the party that makes its stands clear on this issue. "We are going from village to village, asking Muslims not to ignore this," says Dr. Siddiqui adding that now is the time that Muslims should vote on issues related to development rather than other trifle issues. Dr. Siddiqui claims that 70% of Muslims come under Scheduled Castes and providing the benefits under Article 341 will help the community develop socially, economically and politically.
Not that all politicians are against giving this benefit to the Muslims. Ram Vilas Paswan is the torchbearer of this thought. Even Nitish Kumar and Laloo Prasad Yadav have voiced support to this cause. Raghuvansh Prasad's bill is pending in the Parliament, CPM too has rallied support and individuals belonging to Congress like Supriya Aron and Manzoor Ahmad have supported the issue. Mulayam Singh Yadav got a bill passed from the Assembly and though his MPs in the Parliament are yet to take stand on this issue, he has shown that he would like the Muslims to avail benefits of Article 341. But Congress has not made its stand clear, tied as it is between trying to appease Muslims as well as the Hindus. Says Naqvi: "Reservation has long remained a ploy for gathering votes and now is the time to do something for the underprivileged masses." Dr. Siddiqui adds: "When Congress announced 5% reservation to Muslims, we knew this could not be given under the guidelines of the Constitution and the orders of Supreme Court. It was a mere gimmick to get the Muslims on their side. What Congress can definitely do is to allow reservation under Article 341. If it does so, we will ask our well-wishers to vote for the Congress. But until then we are favouring Mulayam Singh Yadav who has shown some inclination to do something for the Muslims.
Not that all politicians are against giving this benefit to the Muslims. Ram Vilas Paswan is the torchbearer of this thought. Even Nitish Kumar and Laloo Prasad Yadav have voiced support to this cause. Raghuvansh Prasad's bill is pending in the Parliament, CPM too has rallied support and individuals belonging to Congress like Supriya Aron and Manzoor Ahmad have supported the issue. Mulayam Singh Yadav got a bill passed from the Assembly and though his MPs in the Parliament are yet to take stand on this issue, he has shown that he would like the Muslims to avail benefits of Article 341. But Congress has not made its stand clear, tied as it is between trying to appease Muslims as well as the Hindus. Says Naqvi: "Reservation has long remained a ploy for gathering votes and now is the time to do something for the underprivileged masses." Dr. Siddiqui adds: "When Congress announced 5% reservation to Muslims, we knew this could not be given under the guidelines of the Constitution and the orders of Supreme Court. It was a mere gimmick to get the Muslims on their side. What Congress can definitely do is to allow reservation under Article 341. If it does so, we will ask our well-wishers to vote for the Congress. But until then we are favouring Mulayam Singh Yadav who has shown some inclination to do something for the Muslims.
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