CPI(M) demands 10 p.c. quota for Muslims

Criticises delay by Centre in implementing Ranganath Misra report

Demanding 10 per cent reservation for Muslims and additional reservation for other minorities in education and employment, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Saturday said Dalit Christians and Muslims should be included in the Scheduled Caste list.

Through a resolution adopted at its ongoing congress here, the party protested the “deliberate” delay by the Central government in implementing the Ranganath Misra Commission report. It drew attention to the Commission's two recommendations — reservation of jobs for Muslims on grounds of social and economic backwardness and including Dalit Christians and Muslims in the SC list.

The party said the job reservation recommendation would require a law to end the present 50 per cent limit on total reservation “arbitrarily imposed” by the Supreme Court.

The recommendation, the CPI(M) resolution said, came in the wake of the Sachar Committee report which presented a graphic picture of discrimination Muslims were facing in employment. “There is thus an urgency to take specific measures to redress this injustice to Muslim communities. This is a democratic and secular demand.”

The party, however, pointed out several weaknesses in the report on State-wise details — not recognising land distribution to Muslims in West Bengal, or employment of Muslims as teachers in madrasas and other institutions at government salaries. It noted that only the Left Front Government had implemented 10 per cent jobs for this section.

Terming the Congress' statement on quota for minorities during Uttar Pradesh elections a gimmick, the party said the Congress gave a handle to the communal forces and caused confusion among other social sections.

Charging the Congress with being non-serious, the CPI(M) said the Manmohan government did not clarify its position despite a consistent demand by the Left parties and others.

The Misra Commission recommended an amendment to the 1950 Presidential Order which, it said, was discriminatory against SCs who had converted to either Islam or Christianity. The CPI(M) congress condemned the communal campaign of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-BJP combine against this “legitimate right of the minorities for reservation in jobs and education and against the legitimate claims of Dalit Muslims and Christians.”