The High Court’s order striking down the 2015 State government order allocating scholarships for Muslim and Christian communities in 80:20 ratio is set to become a political hot potato for the new Left Democratic Front (LDF) government.
The Division Bench order on Friday overturning the government order sub-classifying the minorities by providing scholarships to Muslims and Christians (Latin Catholics and Converted Christians) in 80:20 ratio has already stirred contrary but expected responses from leaders of political and religious organisations representing the two communities. The government has not yet responded to the court order. Giving an indication that the government will take extreme caution before taking a stand on demands for and against going for appeal against the court order, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan at his press conference said any decision on the issue will be made after studying the details of the order.
Blaming VS-led govt.
The Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) leadership is in the forefront of the demand that the government appeal against the Division Bench order. Blaming the LDF government for the High Court ruling, IUML general secretary P.K. Kunhalikutty and party organising secretary E.T. Mohammed Basheer said at Malappuram that the order issued in 2011 by then LDF government led by V.S. Achuthanandan that introduced allocation up to 20% for Latin Catholics and converted Christians had created all the trouble. They noted that the earlier decision to provide scholarships and training to Muslim youths had been based on the Paloli Mohammed Kutty Commission recommendations.
Sunni leader Kanthapuram Aboobacker Musaliyar, the Samastha Sunni faction, Jamaat-e-Islami State Ameer M.I. Abdul Azeez and Kerala Nadvathul Mujahid State committee also separately demanded that the State government appeal against the verdict. Kasim Irikkur, general secretary of the Indian National League, a coalition partner in the LDF, said the court order did not take into consideration the backwardness of the Muslim community detailed by the Sachar Committee.
As expected Christian organisations welcomed the HC order. Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church Episcopal Synod secretary Youhanon Mar Diascoros Metropolitan and Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church head Mar Theodosius Mar Thoma Metropolitan were among the Church leaders who said that the court order would bring equality in the distribution of benefits to the minority communities. The Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council and the Malankara Syrian Jacobite Church too have hailed the verdict. P.J. Joseph, chairman of the Kerala Congress, which is a coalition partner in the Opposition United Democratic Front, urged the State government to implement the HC order.
A balancing act
The LDF’s political experiment of forging a rainbow coalition that helped it make inroads into traditional anti-Left vote bases in the two dominant minority communities will now be under scrutiny. For the LDF’s return to power in the State is attributed to, among others, its efforts to strike a balance between the conflicting interests of the Muslim and Christian communities.
