Merely announcing welfare schemes and funds to woo the minority community, without actually ensuring their proper implementation, defeats the very purpose of such projects
In India, the minority population is merely a vote bank for most of the political parties. The Bharatiya Janata Party too is trying to woo them, with Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi extending his good wishes on the occasion of Ramzan — an indication that he will urge the Muslim community to support the BJP in the 2014 lok Sabha election.
Though numerous schemes have been initiated by the Union and some State Governments for the uplift of the Muslim community, more needs to be done to address their concerns and ensure their active participation in the mainstream milieu.
According to a report, about 30 million Muslims live in Uttar Pradesh and some 15 million in Bihar. One-fourth of Kerala’s population is Muslim, as is 30 per cent of West Bengal while every fourth person in Assam and every ninth resident of Karnataka is a Muslim. In a coalition era, how can political parties ignore themIJ No party, whether it is the Congress or the BJP, can rule the country without the support of the minority community.
In view of his growing popularity, the BJP could end up projecting Mr Modi as its prospective prime ministerial candidate for the 2014 poll. But as political pundits will aver, even popular leaders cannot secure the top job without a sizeable following in the country’s largest State-Uttar Pradesh. The BJP, therefore, needs to crack the ‘Uttar Pradesh code’, where the Samajwadi Party is at the helm and the Bahujan Samaj Party firmly entrenched.
In the years after the 2002 Gujarat violence Mr Modi’s image has transformed from that of ‘Hindu Hriday Samrat’ to ‘Vikas Purush’. And those who try to tarnish him by labelling him ‘communal’ and ‘anti-minority’ must compare the economic and social prosperity of Muslims in Gujarat to that of their brethren in other parts of the country, before doing so.
According to the Sachar Committee Report, appointed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 2005 to prepare a report on the social, economic and educational condition of the Indian Muslim community, the per month, per capita income of Muslims in rural Gujarat is Rs 668. This is Rs 24 higher than the per month per capita income of Hindus in rural Gujarat (Rs 644), Rs 141 higher than that of Scheduled Castes (Rs 527), Rs 74 higher than that of Other Backward Class (Rs 594) and Rs 115 higher than that of Muslims in rural India (Rs 553). In urban Gujarat per capita income of Muslims is Rs 875 which is Rs 71 higher than that of Muslims in urban India (Rs 804).
According to the India Human Development Report, the percentage of Muslim households in Gujarat with improved sources of drinking water facility is 97.7 per cent, higher than that of the overall State average of 93.1 per cent and that of Muslim households in India (92.8 per cent). literacy rate for Muslims in Gujarat stands at 73.5 per cent which is 8.7 per cent higher than the national average literacy rate of 64.8 per cent.
Also, the Modi Government has spent around Rs 11,000 crore on Gujarat’s Sagarkhedu Yojna for comprehensive development of Gujarat’s coastal belt, where a majority of the beneficiaries are Muslim fishermen. Another package of Rs 21,000 crore has been declared for the current year. It stands to reason that if Gujarat’s Muslims can perform and live well, then why can’t those in other StatesIJ
This year, Union Minister for Finance P Chidambaram allocated Rs 3,511 crore to the Minorities Affairs Ministry, an increase of 12 per cent over the last fiscal. The enhanced amount was allocated in spite of the Ministry failing to utilise the funds provided to it in last year’s budget. This shows that the Congress-led UPA Government merely announces schemes and funds to woo the minority community, without actually ensuring proper implementation of the schemes.
As Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Ms Mayawati made provisions for issuing certificates to Muslims under the OBC category for public services. Today, 38 economically and socially backward classes among Muslims are reaping benefits of the OBC quota in Uttar Pradesh. Her Government provided scholarships to Muslim students and established the Kanshiram Urdu-Arabic-Persian University. Also, Muslim girl-students were included in Savitribai Phule scheme, in which every girl student of Class XI was given Rs 25,000 and a bicycle.
And the present Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party Government in Uttar Pradesh is expected to spend Rs 1,800 crore on development programmes in the minority-dominated pockets during 2013-2014.
The minority community wants to match strides with other forward classes in areas like education, health, employment etc. The Central Government and the Uttar Pradesh regime have only provided them subsidies and not fulfilled actual requirements. The time has come to end the practice of vote-bank politics. The voters must choose their candidate and party in the larger interests of the country.