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Muslim Reservation: Six phases of the Lok Sabha elections have been completed and one phase of voting is remaining. At present, all political parties are accusing each other on the issue of Muslim reservation, which is the most discussed issue in the elections. Meanwhile, the important decision of the Calcutta High Court on Muslim reservation has caused a political upheaval.
In a landmark judgement, the Calcutta High Court has cancelled the Other Backward Classes (OBC) certificates given to 77 classes (75 of which were Muslim classes) by the Left and Trinamool governments between 2010 and 2012, dealing a blow to the Mamata government of West Bengal. A bench of High Court judges Tapabrata Chakraborty and Rajashekhar Manthani said, 'This decision of the state is an insult to the entire Muslim community as they have been treated only as a 'vote bank'. Religion appears to be the only criterion for declaring these communities as OBCs and the mind of the court is not free from the suspicion that these communities are being treated as an object only for political purposes. These classes have been included in the OBCs only to get votes and not for their welfare. This decision has been taken only to serve their political interests and not on the basis of the interests of the people. Political parties consider them puppets in their hands and will snatch away their rights in future too.'
However, after this decision, there is a huge political uproar in the country. Mamata Banerjee has refused to accept this decision. She is talking about challenging this decision in the Supreme Court.
Muslim reservation may also be reviewed in Uttar Pradesh
At present, 24 Muslim castes are included in the OBC quota in Uttar Pradesh. After the decision of the Calcutta High Court, the Yogi government can also review the reservation given to Muslims in OBC in Uttar Pradesh. If there is a review, it will be known on what basis the reservation has been given. Supporting the decision of the High Court, Yogi Adityanath said, 'The Indian Constitution does not support reservation on the basis of religion. In 2010, Mamata Banerjee's government gave reservation to 188 Muslim castes by including them in OBC for vote bank politics in West Bengal. The Calcutta High Court declared the reservation given by the Trinamool government as unconstitutional and also reprimanded the Mamata government.
Yogi has said that 'Baba Saheb Bhimrao Ambedkar had also repeatedly said in the Constituent Assembly of the country that this reservation has been given keeping in mind the social and economic backwardness of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and OBCs after the Mandal Commission, but the Constitution of India never allows reservation on the basis of religion.
What is the provision for reservation in the Constitution?
In 1992, the Supreme Court in its judgment in the case of 'Indira Gandhi vs. Government of India' said that, 'The limit of reservation cannot exceed 50 percent. The limit of 50 percent will be decided on the basis of vacant seats that year, not on the basis of total vacancies. That is, if there are a total of 100 posts in a department but only 20 posts are vacant that year, then 50 percent reservation will mean that out of these 20 vacancies, 10 posts are reserved. This 50 percent will not apply to all 100 posts.
After this decision, it was accepted that reservation cannot be given more than 50 percent. There is 15 percent reservation for Scheduled Castes (SC) and 7.5 percent reservation for Scheduled Tribes (ST) in government jobs and educational institutions. Whereas there is a provision of 27 percent reservation for OBCs. OBC reservation can also be reviewed, but many state governments have given reservation more than this limit.
Is there a provision for separate reservation for Muslims in the Constitution?
The Indian Constitution provides for equality for all citizens, but it also provides reservation for socially backward classes. According to the Constitution, the Muslim community gets reservation but not on the basis of religion. Some Muslim castes have been included in the OBC category by the central and state governments. They get this reservation as per Article 14(4) of the Constitution. It states that backward classes which are not adequately represented in government jobs can get reservation. Article 15(1) of the Constitution prohibits the state from discriminating against citizens on the basis of religion and caste. Article 16(1) provides equal opportunity to all people and under Article 15(4) the state government can make reservation for the advancement of any socially and educationally backward class.
The reservation given to Muslim castes is for those who are actually backward. Therefore, those Muslim families whose total annual income is more than 8 lakhs are considered 'creamy layer' because their socio-economic condition has improved. Therefore, they are not considered backward. It is worth noting that the reservation system varies in different states.
In which states are reservation given to Muslims?
At present, there are 12 states and union territories in the country where Muslims get reservation as per the central list of OBCs. For example, OBCs get 32 percent reservation in Karnataka. A separate category of 4 percent has been created for reservation for Muslims. In Andhra Pradesh, Muslim tribes like Ladaf, Narbash, Mehtar get 7 percent to 10 percent reservation in the OBC category. In Kerala, 30 percent of the OBC quota belongs to the 10 percent Muslim community. In Tamil Nadu, Muslims get 3.5 percent reservation.
Are Muslims included in Scheduled Caste?
Reservation in India is mainly given on the basis of caste. Hindus also have many castes included in the Scheduled Caste (SC), but Sikhism in 1956 and Buddhism in 1990 also included some castes in the Scheduled Caste. However, Muslims and Christians are not included in this category.
On the other hand, Article 341 of the Constitution and the Presidential Order of 1950 provide for reservation on religious grounds. However, some Dalit Muslims were demanding inclusion in the Scheduled Castes, which the Centre opposed in the Supreme Court, saying that Christianity and Islam are not the original religions of India (Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism). Therefore, Dalit Muslims cannot be included in the Scheduled Castes.
After getting answers to so many questions, you must have understood why some states of the country provide reservation to certain Muslim castes by including them in OBC. In Gujarat, some Muslim castes are included in OBC and they get the benefit of reservation.