Hyderabad, February 11 (Zahed Farooqui): Andhra Pradesh High Court on Monday nullified the Muslim Quota Bill, which proposed 4% reservations for Muslims in educational institutions and government jobs describing it as “unsustainable”.
A seven-member bench of the High Court nullified the bill by 5 to 2 votes and observed: “The recommendations of the backward caste community is not sustainable so the enactment is also not sustainable.”
What went wrong?
It is believed that mass conversions or threats of mass conversions have without doubt created tension amongst the communal forces and forced the Government to act in the interests of those threatening to convert from Hinduism.
Conversions in AP, like elsewhere in the country, have often been linked to reservation benefits. Several Dalit converts to Islam for the benefit of reservation in government jobs. It seems that only a threat of conversion to Islam or Christianity makes the Government sit up and take notice.
The right to freedom of religion is a fundamental right guaranteed under Article 25 of the Constitution of India, which says every person in India shall have the freedom of conscience and shall have the right to profess, practice and propagates religion
The preamble to the Constitution of India proclaimed India a “sovereign socialist secular democratic republic”. The Forty-second Amendment Act of 1976 inserted the word secular into the Preamble. It mandates equal treatment and tolerance of all religions. India does not have an official state religion; it enshrines the right to practice, preach, and propagate any religion.
Secondly the Muslim leadership of Hyderabad failed to justify their UNCONDITIONAL SUPPORT to the Congress Government. Its like “they want to have their cake and eat it too”.
Zahed Farooqui
zahedfarooqui@yahoo.com