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BJP against convert Dalit quota India Blooms News Service New Delhi, Mar 26 (IBNS): With the National Religious and Linguistic Minorities Commission’s recommendations receiving a thrust forward with the Supreme Court Thursday lending its support for Muslim reservation in Andhra Pradesh, the BJP on Friday built a strong case against reservation based on religion, citing the opposition to such a move by even the builders of the nation. The Commission’s recommendations, if accepted, will force Scheduled Castes (SCs) to share their reservation in government jobs and political fields with convert Christians and Muslims, which the government wants in their vested interests, BJP national spokesperson Ramnath Kovind said. The National Religious and Linguistic Minorities Commission was constituted by the Central government on October 29, 2004, and its report was placed on the floor of both houses of the Parliament on December 18, 2009. Justice Rangnath Mishra was the Chairman of the Commission so the Commission is known by his name as Rangnath Mishra Commission. Kovind pointed that the report of the Commission is not unanimous. The Commission, inter alia, made recommendations to give 15 per cent reservation to minorities under Backward Class quota in education, government employment and social welfare schemes. Out of this 15 percent reservation, 10 percent reservation has been recommended to Muslim Community and remaining 5 percent to other minority communities. The Commission had further recommended to include convert Dalit Christian and Dalit Muslims in the list of Scheduled Castes. At present convert Christians and Muslims are getting reservation in government jobs under Backward Class categories. “Their special interest is not in getting reservation in government jobs, they want SC category reservation for contesting elections from village Panchayats to the Lok Sabha,” Kovind said. The BJP spokesperson maintained that the demand for including convert Christians in SC list was rejected several times since it was first raised in 1936 after the Poona Pact. “All senior leaders including Ambedkar, Jawahar Lal Nehru, Sardar Patel, C Rajagopalachari had rejected the demand saying that no religious follower other than a Hindu can be granted any reservation as so-called SC have been suffering from untouchability and social discrimination for centuries,” Kovind said, referring to the leaders’ reaction when a similar demand was placed before the Constituent Assembly. “Moreover the then Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru had out rightly rejected the demand of religion-based reservation in his letter addressed to all the Chief Ministers on June 27, 1961,” he added. Governments in the post-Independence era have also failed to muster support for such a reservation, with the National Scheduled Castes and Tribes Commission under the Chairmanship of Karnataka Congress Leader Hanumanthappa also rejecting the demand of including convert Christians and Muslims in the list of SCs, Kovind said. “The Supreme Court had clearly opined through its various decisions that convert Dalit Christians and Muslims cannot be equated with SCs,” he added. The BJP leader also maintained that Convert Dalit Chirstians and Muslims are better educated than SCs and hence, reservation in the same quota will also eat into the other SCs prospects. ------------------------------------ ---- INFORMATION OVERLOAD? Get all ZESTCaste mails sent out in a span of 24 hours in a single mail. Subscribe to the daily digest version by sending a blank mail to [email protected], OR, if you have a Yahoo! Id, change your settings at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTMedia/join/ PARTICIPATE:- On this list you can share caste news, discuss caste issues and network with like-minded anti-caste people from across India and the world. Just write to [email protected] TELL FRIENDS TO SIGN UP:- If you got this mail as a forward, subscribe to ZESTCaste by sending a blank mail to [email protected] OR, if you have a Yahoo! ID, by visiting http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/join/ Also have a look at our sister list, ZESTMedia: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTMedia/Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
