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POLITICAL DIARY
Now Communal Budgeting
WILL PM STAND UP FOR INDIANS
By Poonam I Kaushish
New Delhi, December 25, 2007
Pyare Musalman bhaiya! Ab main aapki aur khidmat kar sakta
hoon? (Beloved Muslim brethren. How else can I serve you now?)
It needs no guesses to know who could have uttered these
words. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of course! Remember, he
said not so long ago that the Muslims had the first claim on
the country’s resources.
Simplistically, minorityism has once again replaced cronyism
as the fashion statement of the week. Take a 360 degree turn
anywhere and minority appeasement hits you in the face. All in
the garb of improving the Muslims’ quality of life (sic) which
translates into “please give me your vote.” Never mind that it
holds out monsterous portends for India’s unity and national
security.
How else does one react to the Prime Minister’s latest bonanza
for the minorities by earmarking 15 per cent funds of the 11th
Five Year Plan “to enable them to become active participants
in economic growth”. Sic. Speaking at the National Development
Council, Manmohan Singh added, “This Plan lays special
emphasis on the problems of the minorities. It has specific,
focused programmes, both for skill development and education
and also for improving the basic infrastructure in areas
inhabited predominantly by these marginalised groups.”
But the Prime Minister had not bargained for an angry outburst
from the BJP, which lambasted him for his “communal
budgeting.” Gujarat’s Hindutva icon, Gujarat Chief Minister,
Narender Modi, angrily asked: “What exactly is the message the
Government proposes to send across the country by this
discrimination?” Demanding a review of the PM’s 15-point
agenda for the minorities, he warned that this was necessary
“in the interest of maintaining the social fabric of the
nation. It will not help the cause of taking the Indian people
together on the path of development."
A defensive Manmohan Singh tried hard to dispel Modi’s
misgivings by asserting that “the plan does not attempt to
divide people on the basis of caste, creed or gender or
religion." But there were few takers for his argument. The
crucial question is: Does poverty have any religion? What has
religion got to do with the Government’s strategy for
inclusive growth? Does ‘inclusiveness of Muslims’ mean at the
cost of other groups?
Arguably, how does it better the lot of the masses, if a few
Muslims get benefited? When does minorityism supercede
equality assured by our Constitution? Are quotas based on
religion and community the answer for maintaining India’s
social fabric? And more important, it’s crucial harmony?
Given the level of dishonesty, populism and irresponsibility
which increasingly governs our political system, this step,
like the previous ones, will be an invitation to disaster. In
fact, a senior member of the Planning Commission was horrified
by this “highly divisive” proposal. The member took up the
matter informally with some colleagues warning: We will end up
dividing each district with a separate authority to oversee
the fund dispersal, then towns and cities and their mohallas
and, finally, we will be left with 650 new de facto states.”
All to no avail.
In fact, if truth be told, the Muslim vote bank has become the
tour de force of Indian politics. Towards that end, the UPA
has recklessly moved quite a distance in its pro-Muslim
charter. First, it set up a National Commission to examine the
question of quotas for socially and economically backward
sections among the Muslims.
Then came the Sachar Report “on social, economic and
educational status” of the minority community. Next a Minority
Affairs Ministry. Followed by the Ranganatha Mishra Commission
for Linguistic and Religious Minorities, which has recommended
10 per cent reservation for Muslims in Government jobs.
Not just that. We also have the latest bonanza. A panel headed
by academician Amitabh Kundu to remove anomalies in the
representation of Muslims in the Lok Sabha and State
Assemblies. An Equal Opportunity Commission headed by eminent
jurist N R Madhav Menon. The Government has also identified 90
minority-concentration districts for focused attention.
Clearly, the year 2006-2007 will go down in Indian history as
the Year of the Muslim. Thus giving a major boost to
diabolical communalism. Statistically, a large section of the
Muslims do need a better quality life.
Data collated by Sachar and others show that socio-economic
indicators for Muslims were below those for OBCs in many
cases. (Recall also that most well-to-do Muslims, barring
their lowest rung, left for Pakistan in 1947, a fact
overlooked by Sachar) About 59 per cent were illiterate, only
10 per cent went to school and a mere eight per cent opted for
higher education. Worse, even as they were vastly
under-represented in official jobs, they were grossly
over-represented in India’s prison population.
None can deny that the Government has a special responsibility
to help uplift the minorities and the backward classes. But we
also need to remember that if reservations based on castes are
bad, affirmative action on communal basis is horrendous. It
cannot be justified by ominous reasoning that it would bring
the Muslims into the mainstream and ensure harmony between the
majority and the minority communities. Moreover, it would
prevent Muslims from being exploited any more as vote-banks by
the so-called secular parties.
Really? Aren’t the intentions of the Congress and other
so-called secular parties just that? Exploitation of these
minorities in the name of social and economic upliftment. With
our netagan merrily converting positive affirmation into vote
percentage. Specially when they can reap a political windfall
of over 70 per cent votes via reservation. Never mind, if it
pushes India back by a century and plays havoc with the unity
brought about by the Raj.
Arguably, the Congress has ruled India for nearly 50 years.
What has it done to better the lot of the Muslims? Zilch. Only
used them as milch cows for votes in return for promises
galore of a better deal. Post Independence, Nehru increasingly
politicized religious energy. But he never polled more than
43.6 per cent of the popular mandate. Significantly, the
Muslim vote constituted 12 to 15 per cent of his total vote.
Consequently, Muslim appeasement became a matter of life and
death. To be manipulated and held hostage by dubious promises.
Indira Gandhi firmly reused to countenance any demand for
reservations for Muslims in Government jobs or Public Sector,
formally or informally. But even she quietly acquiesced in the
carving of a separate Muslim majority district of Mallipuram
in Kerala by the CPM Government headed by Namboodiripad, to
keep its nationwide vote bank intact.
Rajiv Gandhi bowed to the demands of the fundamentalists in
the Shah Bano case. Now his widow, Sonia, as the Congress
supremo, has carried the family tradition one step further.
The Congress not only came out in favour of a reservation
policy on religious basis in the Common Minimum Programme of
the UPA Government but Sonia has since chosen to play footsie
with the Jamiat-ul-Ulema.
Let us for a moment think beyond vote-bank politics of our
petty power-at-all-cost polity and look at the perilous
security implications of all the ‘minority’ decisions. Which
are fraught with dangerous implications for the unity of the
country. It is willy-nilly encouraging the Muslim leadership
to go communal, even resurrect the once-hated and
anti-national Muslim League (to promote welfare of the
community) and dictate India’s national agenda.
All this could eventually result in reservation for Muslims in
Parliament and State Assemblies and even separate electorate a
la the British Raj. Our self-serving leaders forget that
communal virus spreads fast when they turn a Nelson’s eye to
forces wedded to religious bigotry, social obscurantism and
violence thinking only of themselves. It even encourages
recklessness. Remember, how the UP Minister for Haj offered a
huge award for killing the Danish cartoonist for caricaturing
Prophet Mohammad.
Tragically, the Congress is unleashing a Frankenstein. Does it
realize the ramifications of its actions? It could well be the
first step in sowing the seeds of another partition --- a
Muslim India and a Hindu India. There is no place for double
standards or the Orwellian concept of ‘more equal than others’
in a democracy. Our Constitution provides for equal
opportunities for all irrespective of caste, creed or sex.
Or we shall end up condemning ourselves and our country to
repeating history. Where a nation can be plunged into communal
anarchy once again. Remember, a nation is primarily a “fusion
of minds and hearts” and secondarily a geographical entity.
This portioning of the mind has brought us virtually to the
cross-roads. How long will we allow brazen communalism to
continue playing havoc with India’s unity, harmony and
integrity? Will the PM please stand up for ‘we Indians’! ---
INFA
(Copyright India News & Feature Alliance)
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