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| Is India heading toward a bloody civil war? | | Communal Reservation | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, Jan 11: The Constitution of India treats all the citizens of the country equally and provides for equal rights for all. It doesn't discriminate between man and man on the ground of religion. It also provides for reservation for the socially and economically backward classes and the reservation is to the tune of 50 per cent. It doesn't provide for any reservation in the government services or in any institution on communal basis or for the minorities, including Muslim, Christian and Sikh minorities. The Constitution of India is very clear in this regard.
However, there are formations who have consistently tried to create schism within the society by advocating the need religion-based reservation, obviously to promote their vote-bank politics overlooking its dangerous ramifications. The Congress, which claims that it is a secular formation, is one such political formation. It has started pursuing a policy to win the Muslim votes in the forth coming assembly elections in five states, especially Uttar Pradesh, which has the potential of provoking violent clashes between those called Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and the minorities, especially the Muslims, who constitute nearly 18 per cent of the Uttar Pradesh's total electorate.
It was in the last week of last December that the Congress-led UPA government took a controversial decision that provided for 4.5 per cent reservation for the minorities in the central services, a move which evoked a strong reaction from the BJP. The decision said that the minorities would get 4.5 per cent reservation from the 27 per cent of reservations provided in the Constitution for the OBCs. In other words, the government decision deprived with one stroke of pen the OBCs of their share in the central government services and central educational institutions. This decision has not gone down well with the OBCs for obvious reasons.
On December 27 as well, the BJP had opposed the Lokpal and Lokayukta Bill in the Lok Sabha on the ground that it envisaged reservation in the institution of Lokpal for the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, OBCs and minorities. Its argument was that such a provision, if given an effect to, would prepare the ground for another communal partition of the country. Since the Congress and UPA enjoyed majority in the Lower House, they rejected all the pleas of the BJP and got the roundly denounced Lokpal Bill adopted. All this was done by the Congress to gain foothold among the minorities, especially the Muslims. The BJP threatened a "civil war if the quota is given to Muslims".
As if all this was not enough to destroy the basic structure of the constitution and poison the relations between the OBCs and the Muslims, Congress leader and Union Law Minister Salman Khurshid on January 9 declared that the Congress, if voted to power, would give 9 per cent reservation to the Muslims in the state government services out of the 27 per cent quota earmarked for the OBCs. He talked of sub-quota within quota. He made this announcement at Farrukhabad (UP) while campaigning for his wife Louise Khrshid, who is seeking election from this constituency on the Congress ticket. The BJP construed this announcement of the Union Law Minister not only as an attack on the Indian constitution and violation of the model code of conduct but also charged the Congress party of vitiating the atmosphere in the country for garnering Muslim votes and capturing power in Uttar Pradesh by dividing and polarizing the society.
After the BJP delegation's meeting with Chief Election Commission, BJP national vice-president and spokesperson Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said: "The Congress is trying to create communal tension in UP and the country by announcing increase in the sub-quota for Muslims. The announcement made by Law Minister is in violation of the Model Code of Conduct and is unconstitutional. We will not allow anyone to snatch or grab away the rights of backward classes. BJP will not allow the Congress or BSP to play the caste card and try to divide the people on the basis of caste and religion". The Election took cognizance of the complaint lodged by the BJP and issued notices to Louis Khurshid and Salman Khurshid yesterday itself to explain their position within the next three days, failing which necessary action would be taken. The Congress party supported Khurshid and his public announcement saying he committed no wrong.
All this shows Uttar Pradesh would witness a fierce and bitter election campaign by the votaries of religion-based reservation and those opposed to it. Why this correspondent is saying so? He is saying so because Salman Khurshid and others of his ilk in the Congress have refused to reconsider their stand on communal reservation, as also because of the resolve of the BJP to take on the Congress party on this sensitive issue and expose what it called its "fake secularism" during the election campaign. It is this which would bring the Muslim minority and the OBCs face to face with each other, thus creating a situation not conducive for the maintenance of socio-religious and political equilibrium in the sensitive and caste-ridden Uttar Pradesh. This eventuality needs to be averted at any cost and this can be averted only if the desperate Congress recognizes the fact that cases are pending before the Supreme Court from Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka where a quota has been given to religious minorities, Muslims and Christians. A number of legal experts have also pronounced that the government's step to give reservation to religious minorities is "unconstitutional".
Any failure on the part of the Congress and UPA to recognize these realities would surely create a volcanic situation in the country with the protagonists and critics of the religion-based sub-quota within quota meant for the OBCs clashing with each other. |
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