Amidst the raging controversy over the call for the review of the reservation policy for the SC, ST and OBCs by the RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, an organization of the muslims intellectuals comprising of top academic figures of the Aligarh Muslim University has supported the call.
A week ago RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat had said RsRs an apolitical committee of people genuinely concerned for the interest of the whole nation and committed for social equality, including some representatives from the society, they should decide which categories require reservation and for how long. The non-political committee like autonomous commissions should be the implementation authority; political authorities should supervise them for honesty and integrity,” . The RSS chief had argued that the policy of reservations based on social backwardness being extended now is not in line with what the makers of the Indian Constitution had in mind, had quotas been implemented as per the vision of the Constitution makers questions on the issue would not have surfaced.
The Aligarh based organization of muslim intellectuals RsRsForum for Muslim Studies & Analysis (FMSA) welcoming the RSS Sar Sangh Chalak, Mohan Bhagwat said RsRs the Constitutional reservations should be reviewed as it does not necessarily means that the policy of quota be abolished’’.
RsRsThe reservation was initially only for ten years and later it was extended for an indefinite period. The review of the policy should have been conducted after 10 years, but for obvious reasons of vote bank politics no political party could muster the courage to raise this issue. RSS chief has raised this issue so there should be public debate on this issue rather than the petty politics by the political parties keeping in mind their narrow political and electoral ends’’, said Jasim Mohammed secretary of the FMSA.
RsRsThe muslims have several options before them, one is the rabble rouser Asaduddin Owaisi of the MIM and the other is to choose the political path in the context of their social, educational and economic status in the society and join the mainstream for their overall emancipation’’, said Jasim adding RsRswe know that the Indian constitution prohibits the reservation on the grounds of religion, several committees and commissions like Sacchar committee and Rangnath commission had recommended reservation for the muslims as their economic and social status was worse than the dalits’’.
The FMSA secretary said RsRs We have supported the call by the RSS chief that the public debate may throw some new solution and the method for bringing the msulims under the ambit of reservation within the framework of the law of the land’’. We want to bring the Muslims in the mainstream and make them aware about the myriad schemes being run by the different departments of the state and the Central government and there is little awareness among the Muslims masses about them, he added. He said during the last UP state assembly elections in 2012, the ruling Samajwadi party had promised to provide 18 percent reservation to mulims but they have done nothing so far to fulfill their promise.
The FMSA along with the Gujarat based businessman Zafar Sareshwala, a confident of the prime minister Narendra Modi, is running a nationwide campaign among muslims RsRsRsRsTalim Ki Takat’ (the strength of education). Zafar Sareshwala is presently the chancellor of the Maulana Azad Urdu University Hyderabad.
The campaign plans to cover 22 cities and so far it has covered Hyderabad, the capital of Andhra Pradesh and Telengana, and Bareilly in UP. It’s likely to visit Varanasi, Gorakhpur, lucknow, Kanpur and many other cities in the state with sizeable muslim population. RsRsOur agenda is small and simple, to apprise the muslim masses about the welfare and development schemes for the minorities run by Central government and different state government and how can they avail the benefit from those schemes, many were even aware about the RsJan dhan Yojna’ of the prime minister and they opened bank accounts after our intervention’’, said Jasim Mohammed.