Andhra Pradesh Muslim Quota Issue Majlis e ittehadul Muslimeen Party Statement

MiM Leader Akbaruddin Owaisi giving Speech in Nizamabad.


Statement by Akbaruddin Owaisi, MIM floor leader in the Assembly

One of the major promises made by the Congress on the eve of 2004 Assembly elections was to provide five percent reservations for Muslims in educational institutions and government jobs by including the community in the list of Backward Classes. But, we are sorry to say that the Congress, after coming to power in the state, has been unable to fulfil this promise even though it made attempts twice in the last two years to provide the reservations to Muslims.

This situation has arisen because the Andhra Pradesh High Court has struck down the five percent reservations for Muslims twice--in 2004 and 2005—on various grounds but the government does not appear to have done proper homework for implementing the quota for Muslims. On the other hand, the Congress government left enough lacunae in the GO issued

When the State Government filed an appeal in the Supreme Court against the quashing of Muslim reservations, the apex court declined to stay the judgement of the High Court. Again, when the state government approached the Supreme Court in July this year seeking its directions to reserve five percent seats in educational institutions for Muslims for the academic year 2006-07, the apex court rejected the application on the grounds that if the application was entertained, it would virtually amount to staying the AP High Court judgement quashing the quota for Muslims.

Even as the five-member Constitutional bench of the Supreme Court is to be constituted to go into the State government’s appeal on the issue of Muslim reservations, the Congress-led UPA government has virtually adopted a contrary stance on the issue. The Central government, in an affidavit in the Supreme Court in response to a PIL challenging OBC quotas, categorically denied reports that it was contemplating a separate quota for Muslims.

“A policy allowing for reservation based on religion would violate the fundamental right to equality enshrined in the Constitution. As a result, reservation for Muslims alone would be squarely discriminatory,” the affidavit pointed out.

The affidavit further stated that “a reservation policy intended to benefit any one religious community would necessarily fall foul of the constitutional prohibition on discrimination based solely on religion. The existing and any prospective reservation policy would have to make provision for backward castes/classes regardless of their religious considerations. Only such a policy will be in tune with the secular credentials of the country.”

Moreover, the Union Minister for Minority Affairs Abdul Rahman Antulay has gone on record that there is no proposal before the Central government to provide reservations for Muslims on the lines of the OBCs. Union Minister for Human Resource Development Arjun Singh also ruled out any reservations for Muslims. All these statements indicate the thinking of the UPA government against providing reservations to Muslims.

Faced with this clear-cut stand of UPA on Muslim quota, the Chief Minister has been trying hard to wriggle out of the embarrassment. He claims that the Central government’s opposition to reservation on religious basis would not impact the state
government’s policy. He insists that the state’s decision has nothing to do with religion since the government included Muslims in the list of backward classes on the basis of their socio-economic and educational backwardness.

The fact remains that the Congress government in the state could not effectively argue the case in the AP High Court, which struck down the reservations for Muslims twice. Even in the Supreme Court, the state government could not put forth sound arguments for stay of the AP High court judgement. This only shows the casual and ineffective manner in which the state government is fighting the legal battles over the issue.

Despite the Chief Minister Dr Y S Rajasekhar Reddy’s assertions that the Congress is committed to provide reservations to Muslims by overcoming all the hurdles, the half-hearted actions of the government to defend the case in the courts only proves lack of sincerity and conviction on the part of the ruling party. This is the reason for successive setbacks in the courts on this issue.

Various studies and surveys have confirmed social, economic and educational backwardness of Muslims all over the country, and not merely in AP. Poorer sections of the community certainly need affirmative action on par with other sections like Dalits, Adivasis and OBCs. But the state and central governments have to find constitutional ways of helping the poorer Muslims.
Muslims in the state are wondering now what would happen to the case pending in the Supreme Court regarding five percent reservations if the UPA government’s attitude on the issue is hostile. They are questioning the sincerity of the Congress government on the issue and feel that the party has dumped them after using the community for electoral gains. It is for the Congress government in the state and UPA government at the Centre to clear the doubts on this issue.