Former civil servant, Member of Parliament, member of All India Muslim Personal Law Board, AIMPLB, Syed Shahabuddin has written an extensive piece on Khabrein titled “Muslim Strategy for General Elections in 2009“.
The piece stands out for 2 reasons. It is vivid in its expose of how Muslim Appeasement practised by Communal Socialists across the board. It is also unapologetic for putting the issue of Muslim Reservations back on the table.
While there is no denying the economic backwardness of significant sections within the Muslim Community it is stunning that Mr. Shahabuddin wants other Muslims in Urban and Semi-Urban India to vote against their economic interests by joining the clamour for Reservations.
Some of the finest arguments against Muslim Reservations were made by Muslim members of the Constituent Assembly and it is worth reproducing them here as a rejoinder to Mr. Shahabuddin’s call and to also pose the question to middle class Muslims in Urban and semi-Urban India on
Why would they be so foolish to vote against their economic interests and aspirations by voting for Communal Socialists who only appease and pander ?
The Constituent Assembly debated the issue of Minority Rights during the month of August 1947 right after Independence. One of the contentious issues was having separate seats for minorities. Maulana Hasrat Mohani makes some very thought provoking remarks .
I refuse to accept Muslims to be a minority
How is it that when you talk of minorities you mean Muslims only and when you talk of reservation you refer to Muslims only ?:
The Muslims refuse to be called a minority if parties are formed on political line.
It must be noted that when the Advisory Committee on Minority Rights lead by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel made its recommendations it set a 10 year limit on all kinds of reservations for any community.
Ananthasayanam Ayyangar once again makes some thought provoking arguments.
We are going too far and are trying to placate them in every possible way. I have got here the treaty entered into by Turkey regarding the protection of its minorities on 24th July 1923 at Geneva. I ask any of the protagonists of this amendment, to show me a single. instance where in any part of the country, in any part of the world a political right has been conceded in the manner in which it has been conceded here.
It cannot be said that there is a greater nation in recent years standing for the rights of Muslims in the world than Turkey. Let us see what rights they have given no the other minorities in Turkey and what rights they have insisted upon for for their nationals in other countries.
they are entitled to stand shoulder to shoulder with the rest of the community,to stand for any seat anywhere without being trammelled, without being ineligible for any particular post or office
I am not prepared to call a single individual a minority. I do not like the word ‘minority’ at all.
The issue of Reservations for Minorities crops up again in November of 1948. By this time the draft Constitution underwent many changes with Dr. B.R. Ambedkar introducing the re-drafted Constitution Bill. Directly elected Governors were discarded and the present system of nominated Governors made its way. The issue of Reservations is once again raised by Kazi Syed Karimuddin.
Joint electorates with reservation of seats is absolutely of no consequence to the minorities. It would do them positive disservice.
If the two resolutions regarding the continuation of separate electorate or joint electorate with reservation of seats with a fixed percentage of votes of the community to which the candidate belongs which were rejected last time are not acceptable to the House,
the minorities should forego this reservation of seats under joint electorates
this is going to create permanent statutory minorities in the country
It would be to the great disadvantage and detriment of the Muslim community or any other minority community which claims reservations
reservation of seats will create more bitterness, more jealousies, more communal hatred and Muslim disintegration
We must be left to our own fate and we are quite prepared to face the future.
Once again the Kazi makes the case for a strong executive.
Without any sacrifice of the democratic principles the minorities can be protected.
The rights of the minorities can be protected in another way and that is by the establishment of a non-parliamentary executive in this country.
If you introduce non-parliamentary executive, the members of the executive would not be afraid because they are not liable to be removed by their supporters
in parliamentary executive the Government is naturally weak, and vacillating because the ministers have to depend for their continuance on communally minded supporters
A digression from the subject of reservations. The Constituent Assembly while debating Ambedkar’s Constitution Bill also took up the question of the Preamble. Ambedkar makes a strong argument against the current situation of having Socialism ingrained in the Preamble and requiring every political party to express faith in it.
What should be the policy of the State, how the Society should be organised in its social and economic side are matters which must be decided by the people themselves according to time and circumstances.
It cannot be laid down in the Constitution itself, because that is destroying democracy altogether. If you state in the Constitution that the social organisation of the State shall take a particular form, you are, in my judgment, taking away the liberty of the people to decide what should be the social organisation in which they wish to live.
It is perfectly possible today, for the majority people to hold that the socialist organisation of society is better than the capitalist organisation of society.
But it would be perfectly possible for thinking people to devise some other form of social organisation which might be better than the socialist organisation of today or of tomorrow.
I do not see therefore why the Constitution should tie down the people to live in a particular form and not leave it to the people themselves to decide it for themselves.
Filed under: Chattisgarh Polls 2008, Constituent Assembly, Delhi Polls 2008, Dharmayudh-2009, Gujarat Polls 2007, India Elections 2009, Karnataka Polls 2008, Lok Sabha Polls 2008-2009, Madhya Pradesh Polls 2008, Offstumped, Rajasthan Polls 2008, betrayal of aam admi, jeetega-bharat
Commusnists brainwashed housewives want salary to be house wives.
http://www.rediff.com/money/2009/mar/09kerala-housewives-demand-pay-from-govt.htm
So let the nation have house husbands, house wives and thy can be paid, probably by cash transfer scheme
OT – but good article/blog
http://ibnlive.in.com/blogs/ashutosh/1945/53243/advanis-date-with-history-and-bjps-too.html
I don’t want to paste the link. But here is the scenario from Arunachal.
“Incredible India has been promoting Arunachal like no one else’s business. Beyond tourism, the politics of Arunachal also remains unique. It is probably the most unpredictable state in terms of party politics. Both the Lok Sabha seats of Arunachal are with the BJP. In state politics, the lone BJP member of the legislative assembly R T Khijuju left the party on August 21, 2008 to join the Congress, leaving Arunachal with no opposition party. Other nine members of the BJP had left before. So to drive home the point let me put it in bold letters that there is no opposition party in Arunachal Pradesh Assembly. So is it like one big happy family? Not really. There is infighting within the Congress. Present CM Dorjee Khundur and former CM Gegong Apang are at loggerheads or so I am told. That doesn’t help the Congress in Lok Sabha. And BJP MP Khiren Rijuju who is quite popular is most likely to win from Arunachal West constituency.”
Khiren Rijuju is one of the most active and very young lok sabha member.
EC instructs BJP govt against publishing adds in dailies
After receiving several complaints from the Congress and the Janata Dal (S) against the BJP government, the Election Commission on Monday directed the Yeddyurappa Government to not to publish advertisements in newspapers highlighting the achievements of the Government during the last nine months of its rule in Karnataka.
Karnataka?s Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) M.N. Vidyashankar told the media on Monday that the BJP Government should refrain from issuing advertisements in newspapers by spending the taxpayers money. The EC has announced the calendar of events to the lok sabha polls last week and publication of advertisement by the government by spending money from the exchequer leads to the violation of the model code of conduct, he said.
However, the ruling BJP can issue advertisements at its own cost which in turn should be shown in the election expenditure, he said.
Can we expect similar stance for GOI. ?
Infact all complaints of kar opposition seems to have been okayed. See the link. The press also seems to want to pull down BJP in kar. They have made complaints to CEO, on some issues not opp.
Reading few posts here raises the important question as to why Rahul Gandhi or Congress is not sure of winning the coming elections despite the media blitz by pro-Congress media and this govt.’s massive, and costly, advertising campaign.
Is it that people don’t buy into the hype after all? If so, it’s quite encouraging, and a welcome sign in the long term. Gotta see.
well i guess how much ever we hate this current system of entitlements i personally feel the remedy for the damage it has done to the social fabric of India lies in making the unfair system equally unfair/fair for everyone..
i have just penned down a few ideas which i feel a progressive forward thinking party such as the BJP should take up in its interests as well as in the interests of the entire nation.. wat i have written is just a few vague ideas which basically should be the direction in which our entitlement policy should be heading..
yoss would appreciate if u could spare some time n go thru my post and leave comments..
also i wud request the commentators on this blog to pls post comments on my ideas either here or on my blog
http://ssimplesolutions.blogspot.com/
well i guess how much ever we hate this current system of entitlements i personally feel the remedy for the damage it has done to the social fabric of India lies in making the unfair system equally unfair/fair for everyone..
i have just penned down a few ideas which i feel a progressive forward thinking party such as the BJP should take up in its interests as well as in the interests of the entire nation.. wat i have written is just a few vague ideas which basically should be the direction in which our entitlement policy should be heading..
yoss would appreciate if u could spare some time n go thru my post and leave comments..
also i wud request the commentators on this blog to pls post comments on these ideas either here or on my blog
http://ssimplesolutions.blogspot.com/
1) Why do we have reservation based on castes, which clearly adopts a reverse discrimination against the so-called general category? Why not based on economic backwardness, while adopting other measures to empower so-called backward caste?
-> Because the Constitution allows reservation on a caste basis.
2) Why do we allow regional/ casteist parties, with very narrow agenda, many of which end up preaching hate towards other communities/ languages?
-> Because the Constitution allows regional parties to fight elections.
3) Why do we have 3-tier judicial system (Sessions Court, High Court, and Supreme Court) for serious crimes, when sometimes it takes decades to get a judgement from even a single layer of judiciary? Isn’t It a case of justice delayed is justice denied, an impractical luxury in a country where there are crores of cases already in back-log ?
-> Because the Constitution provisions for such a judicial organisation.
4) Why can any one in the media lodge a malicious campaign against any one in public life or even a common man, tarnishing his/her image, without proper research or accountability, misusing its reach? What about freedom of speech of aam admi?
-> Doesn’t the Constitution allow freedom of speech to all to the same degree whether the ‘responsible’ media houses or the aam admi?
5) Political Parties, which fight each other in the election asking people to vote for them and defeat the other; join hands after poll to taste the power pie? Isn’t it cheating the very people who brought them to power?
-> Because the Constitution allows a post poll alliance.
6) Is there any provision in the Constitution for providing social security to the citizens? What about providing basic healthcare, education, clean drinking water, security and justice to the constituents?
->The Constitution while agreeing to it in principle seems to leave the implementation specifics to the Govt and its machinery to try taking measures on a best effort basis?
(And anyone can guess what these best effort basis in the last 60 yrs have resulted to?).
The Constitution is for the good of the nation, the well being of the aam aadmi and the society, it should not be a tool in the hands of the corrupt and inefficient netas to promote their own selfish motive of hanging on to the power, without doing anything good for the people , just dividing the society in the name of caste and languages .
It need not be a patthar ki lakeer which cannot be changed , with changing times if it needs to be changed for the good of the nation , it should be, especially changing provisions which are being misused by the netas for vote-bank politics.
The latest reservation tactic is in sports: Reserved section people have to say RUN ONLY HALF THE DISTANCE TO EARN MARKS.
Reservations of any kind are an insult to mankind. 60 years of reservations and what has happened to the Dalit’s ? They are still where they are. Barring a few BILLIONAIRE DALIT LEADER’S.
It is more about a mentality, I personally knew of a Doctor ( cleared M.B.B.S) a Dalit, we used to play cricket together from Childhood days. After clearing his M.B.B.S exams, this guy opted to work as Bombay Municipal Corporation sweeper!!!!!! Why, had he practiced medicine, his status would have been elevated and some perquisites offered by the then applicable rules, would have been withdrawn to him and his family.
Mates….This incident finished the reservation system for me.
It is an insult on a human beings.
In Andhra, the congress party gave 4% reservation for muslims and that party is banking votes from them. The recent poll conducted by a regional TV channel claimed that congress is going to win 25 Loksabha elections and 180 assembly seats.
I also don’t understand this concept of minority.
Muslims are in significant numbers in Kerala, UP, WB, J&K etc. Will they be called minority in these states too?
Why does the word minority in India almost always means “religious minority” and mostly means Muslims? Why aren’t sexual minorities, otherwise enabled people etc are also not included??
The whole concept of minority has to be either clearly defined or let go. I would prefer the latter. In a democracy where a Muslim has the same right as me to vote, why extend an olive branch to him for being a Muslim?
@Venkat….
My COMMUNAL friend, this is life in India.
We just give, give and give and we cannot expect anything from these morons.
God…I am as exasperated as you are with this whole set up of minorities, reservations.
Jiggs
After all our exasperation, Mayawati will get to become the PM and immediately give 10% reservation to Muslims and this will cause lot of problems and SC will debate this issue at length for the next 5 years!!
I pity our nation
Short of creating unrest, only those who “enjoy” reservation today can give it up. I call these sections of society as the “haves” w.r.t reservations. We should encourage and support the thoughtful among these “haves” to discuss speak their views.
The quotes from Maulana Hazrat Mohani, Kazi and Iyengar are valuable to this debate. Thanks yoss for bringing these to the table.
Many people in the “haves” communities realize the folly of reservations. The folly is in how their people are forever becoming indentured to the political manipulators by signing up for such lifetime crutches. These voices have to find their way into the “mainstream”.
I can hear some of you saying that “everybody wants to be called ‘marginalized’”. I agree that this is a problem mentality of easy dependence at certain levels. But looking across the country as a whole, I beg to differ. I think the people of India, even the poorest of the poor, have a lot of dignity and pride in themselves. It is the political classes aspiring to be their lifetime daily drug suppliers, that want to keep them addicted to reservation forever. If you can help the poor to help themselves without damaging their dignity (i.e. without marginalizing them in the true sense of the word!), that is what we should be doing.
As a nation, we also need to learn to respect the work ethic. Do we respect a barber for the good work that he does, just as we respect a teacher who does good work ? I don’t mean that we need to prostrate in front of the barber. The word respect and the “show of respect” are two different things. In India, I have rarely encountered respect for the work ethic, much as we speak of Dharma as being exactly that.
Why go for this reverse discrimination…..if you want to improve certain section of society just make new colleges for them at par or even better in facilities then the existing best ones. Then wait and watch. Will get rough idea what will happen to this country if will play more with quota system.
It is the only country in the world with more than 50% reservation……….i.e. more than 50% person of people who deserve to be something do not get to become something because of fatulous vote bank politics.