The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) on Sunday stated that it is determined to expand across the country and passed a host of resolutions such as a demand for reservations for Muslims, including in Maharashtra and Telangana, and a mechanism to track and stop majoritarian religious radicalisation.
The copy of the resolutions was shared with the media on the final day of the party’s first National Convention in Mumbai which included closed-door meetings with party functionaries.
The resolutions touch upon how several commissions had established the “social, economic and educational” backwardness of Muslims. The party maintained that governments at the Centre and State have refused to provide reservations despite their the community’s condition. The party stated that in Maharashtra the Mahmoodur Rahman Committee had established that Muslims of that State were one of the most backward groups. A Maharashtra High Court order upheld reservations for Muslim in education.
With this as the rationale, the party stated: “The Union government must breach the 50% ceiling limit on reservations by introducing a constitutional amendment,” adding that the 1952 Presidential order must be amended so that Dalits enjoy freedom of religion. “Dalit Muslims and Christians should have the right to be classified as Scheduled Castes,” the document reads.
“The State government of Telangana must increase reservation for backward Muslim groups in Telangana from 4% to 12%,” the party resolved.
Hate speech
The AIMIM condemned violence against Dalits and minorities, and charged the Bharatiya Janata Party with providing patronage to leaders who give hate speeches and genocidal calls. The inaction of State governments on Dharam Sansads and their organisers has “emboldened” criminal elements, the party stated.
“Set up a dedicated cell in the Ministry of Home Affairs tracking and countering majoritarian religious radicalisation,” the party demanded, adding that exemplary action against law makers who deliver hate speeches against minorities and Dalits be should taken.
Uniform Civil Code
The AIMIM opposed the implementation of a Uniform Civil Code, stating that aspects such as inheritance, marriage and divorce are a part of culture which cannot be outlawed.
“UCC will be a majoritarian law that will outlaw personal laws of minorities while protecting Hindu family law. This is unacceptable and unconstitutional,” the AIMIM stated.
The party stated that it opposes and condemns all efforts of altering a secular India to a Hindu Rashtra. “Secularism is part of the basic structure of the Constitution, and the repeated insistence on the primacy of Hindu identity violates the principle of secularism,” the party stated.
