UP regime’s minority quota policy is dangerous
Our so-called secularists believe that the only way to ameliorate the condition of minorities in the country who have been left out of the development process, is to extend the benefits of reservation to them, disguised in one form or the other. They are wrong, and that has been proved over the years by the fact that such ‘positive discriminations' have done little to improve the lot of the minorities. Yet they continue with their divisive agenda because they see entitlement, which is nothing more than symbolism, as a short-cut to garnering the minority's votes in the name of welfare that doesn't happen. The decision of Akhilesh Yadav's Government in Uttar Pradesh to reserve 20 per cent of the 85 development and welfare schemes that various departments operate across the State, for minorities (read Muslims), is one such harebrained idea which will cause more harm to the social fabric than good to the minorities. Governments are elected by the people at large and not just minorities, and state projects ought to be committed to the good of the people cutting across lines of caste, religion and party. Given that Government projects are funded by public money, it is improper of the Uttar Pradesh regime to set aside a portion of such development schemes for minorities. This is not inclusive growth — a term which the likes of Mr Yadav repeat ad nauseam. But inclusive growth is far from the Chief Minister's and his party's mind. They are worried that in the coming elections the Muslim votes could shift elsewhere unless they do something to appease the community. The Chief Minister says that his Government is fulfilling the promise it had made to the minorities and that its decision is in keeping with the recommendations that the Sachar panel had made. But there are better ways to work for the minority's welfare, and the best among them is to provide members of the minority community access to skill-development and sustainable employment opportunities that empower them. They must have access to quality education and quality healthcare too. BJP Governments in various States have shown the way without resorting to crass appeasement of the minorities. But the Samajwadi Party prefers parochial politics over the larger good of the people.
The Uttar Pradesh Government's decision to pamper minorities in the run-up to the lok Sabha election will not only create bitterness among the rest of the population but it is certain to run into legal hurdles as well. The move to reserve a portion of the development schemes funded by the public exchequer, for minorities, goes against the letter and spirit of the Constitution. The Constitution is clear that there cannot be any discrimination on grounds of religion. An earlier effort by another ‘secular' party, the Congress, to extend the benefits of reservation to the Muslim community in Andhra Pradesh ran into problems in the Supreme Court. The Congress had to also quietly backtrack on the promise it made (during the campaign for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly poll), to provide a sub-quota for the minority community within the existing reservation for the Other Backward Classes, after it realised the legal untenability of the silly proposal. Mr Yadav should have learned lessons from these instances.