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The 15% Question

A Muslim conclave demands a separate quota in legislatures

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The 15% Question
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Votaries of the quota cite statistics to show that Muslim representation in Parliament and the state legislatures has steadily dropped since Independence. The present Lok Sabha has just 18 Muslim MPs, the lowest ever. It is argued that there should be over 65 MPs, in keeping with a population of nearly 160 million. Most Muslim candidates don’t get past the "winnability" quotient that political parties set during seat allocations. Many candidates find that while a constituency may have a sizeable Muslim population, it may not be enough to ensure victory.

"Whether it is Syed Shahabuddin or a secularist like Ghulam Nabi Azad, they are all finding it impossible to win. In each election since Independence the situation has become worse," says Qazi Mojahid-ul-Islam Qasmi, secretary-general of the Muslim Personal Law Board. While their religion factor in the last Lok Sabha polls, Shahabuddin insists that reservation may be the only way of countering the community’s political decline. "Persistent communal bias, whether or not it ends in communal violence, has seen voters move away from minority candidates," he says. "And then parties do not give tickets to Muslims, going by winnability. Even the Janata Dal gave only 5 per cent tickets to Muslims."

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And while reservation may have been mooted in the past and then not pursued, the Mumbai conclave resolved to follow up and channelise public opinion. Help may also be sought from legislators. "This is just the beginning. We would like to see this on the national agenda, like in the Shah Bane days," says Sarfaraz Arzoo, editor of the Mumbai-based Hindustan Daily.

However, Rafiq Zakaria, a former MP who has dealt with the subject in his book, The Widening Divide, feels that a better alternative to quotas would be the German system whereby half the seats are contested by individual candidates from political parties and the other half by parties themselves. "The seats wan are then allocated to suitable party candidates," he explains. "in this manner intellectuals, honest politicians and minorities would stand a better chance."

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But for a growing segment, emboldened by the demand for a 33 per cent quota for women, reservations seem the only chance. There is also an attempt to replace the religious leadership with a set of more educated and liberal brass. A step in this regard is the newly formed Muslim Graduates Association, which was party to the Mumbai conclave.

There is unanimity among Muslim leaders that reservations should be for the community as a whole, arguing that quotas for Muslims in the SC/ST and OBC categories would only divide the community. As for the constitutionality of the proposal, it is argued that after Independence, when the issue came up, Muslims led by Begum Aejaz Rasool were misguided into rejecting reservations for the community. It is also stressed that if Article 14 of the Constitution, which discourages discrimination on the ground of cast and religion, could be amended to bring in reservations caste lines, why not take steps on the grounds of religion?

But this reasoning does not cut ice everywhere. Politicians like Hussain Dalwai, chief general secretary of the Samajwadi Party’s Maharashtra unit, feel that the real solution lies in clearing the bad blood between Hindus and Mulsims. Says he: "The atmosphere should be changed, it has become very anti-Muslim. When these tensions are removed, the situation will improve. Representation on the basis of reservation is not the answer." However, as the demand for reservations snowballs, Dalwai may soon find that he subscribes to a minority view.

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