Bhopal, April 07: (Pervez Bari) Yesterday All India Muslim Forum, (AIMF) held a massive “Dharna” (sit-in) in support of its long-standing twin demands which focused on earmarking a proportionate 8.5 per cent quota for Muslim backwards within the ambit of 27 per cent reservations provided under Mandal Commission, and the deletion of religious barrier from Article 341 of the Indian Constitution for any caste to be included in the category of Scheduled Castes.
According to a Press release of AIMF the protest demonstration was held at Shaheed Smark in Lucknow. It was presided over by Uttar Pradesh president Dr. Aftab Ahmad and the proceedings were conducted by Distt. Lucknow president Raees Siddiqui.
Addressing the protesters, the president of Muslim Forum, Dr. M.K. Sherwani reportedly stressed that the demand for earmarking the proportionate quota for Muslim backwards within the ambit of 27 per cent Mandal Commission reservations was first raised by his party about a decade back through a convention at Lucknow and since then it has been consistently hammering the issue. Now that the recent verdict of Supreme Court, while upholding the Andhra Pradesh legislation providing quota for Muslim backwards, it has gained a fresh momentum .
Dr. Sherwani said the reason is obvious because the Muslim backwards have got no potential to compete with their Hindu counterparts and, therefore, remain deprived of the whole egalitarian ethos of Mandal Commission.
Raising the issue of ‘Dalit Muslims’, senior leader of the party Haji Moinullah Khan emphasized that there is nothing in the Constitution as much self-contradictory as Article 341 which restricts the Scheduled Caste category to only those castes which profess Hindu, Sikh and Buddhist religions, thus making a discrimination on religious grounds against Muslims and Christians.
He said that the un-Constitutional status of this Article has also attracted the attention of Ranganath Mishra Commission which has recommended for the deletion of religious bar for any caste to be included in the Scheduled Caste category.
Raees Siddiqui and Rahmat Ali Ansari opposed the Women Reservation Bill in its present form and demanded separate quota for Muslim backward women. Dr. Aftab Ahmed criticized Mulayam Singh Yadav as under the pretext of Muslim women, he wants to ensure the quota for Hindu backwards because during his regime, he never conceded the demand of Muslim Forum to earmark quota for Muslim backwards within 27 per cent reservations of Mandal Commission.
Others who spoke on the occasion included Adv. Imtiyaz Warsi, Dr. Shakeel Siddiqui, Zafarullah Beg, Syed Naseem, Mujtaba Sherwani and Zubair Ahmed. (pervezbari@eth.net)