Congress can’t deny Modi’s charge of Muslim quota. Karnataka & 2009 manifesto are proof

Congress can’t deny Modi’s charge of Muslim quota. Karnataka & 2009 manifesto are proof

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s accusation that the Congress is planning to take away reservations from Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes, and distribute them along religious lines has garnered intense public attention. Modi’s remark in the context of Karnataka, where he said the Congress “turned Muslims into OBCs”, was refuted by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who dared the PM to provide evidence while arguing that Muslims have been getting reservation under the 2B category within OBCs since 1995.

“Where has the Congress stated that it would take away reservations from backward classes and SC/STs to give them to Muslims?” Siddaramaiah asked, calling Modi’s accusation a “blatant lie”.

This issue has the potential to further polarise SCs, STs, and OBCs along religious lines in the ongoing Lok Sabha election, which might benefit the BJP. So let’s examine Modi’s allegations and Siddaramaiah’s response in detail. Did the Congress ever plan to take away reservations meant for SC/ST/OBCs? Before we get there, we first need to understand the Congress party’s quest for reservation for Muslims.

Muslim quota

Our Constitution makers categorically rejected the provision of religion-based reservation, driven by the view that religious representation had led to the Partition and could threaten the country’s unity and integrity. Nevertheless, they agreed to include a section for Muslims in the backward classes category. The Congress upheld this constitutional settlement until the 1990s, but the emergence of Mandal and Mandir politics resulted in the desertion of Dalit and backward caste votes, causing the decline in the party’s support base. This forced the Congress to change its strategy on Muslim reservation.

The Congress adopted two models to provide reservation to Muslims. The first one was in Karnataka—where former CM Veerappa Moily announced 6 per cent reservation for Muslims, Buddhists, and Scheduled Castes who converted to Christianity within OBCs in 1994. Under the 2B category, these groups are identified as “more backward”. The government couldn’t implement the order though, as it collapsed in December that year. Moily’s successor HD Deve Gowda of Janata Dal (Secular) implemented the policy in 1995, which continues to this day.

The second model was implemented in Andhra Pradesh, where former Congress CM YS Rajasekhara Reddy introduced 4 per cent reservation for Muslims. However, the Supreme Court in 2010 stayed the implementation of this reservation while referring it to the constitutional bench. The case is still on.

The Congress’ 2009 election manifesto specifically mentioned that “the Indian National Congress has pioneered reservations for minorities in Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh in government employment and education on the basis of their social and economic backwardness. We are committed to adopt this policy at the national level”. This raises the question if the Congress party had promised reservation to all Muslims by declaring them socially and educationally backward, from which quota it has planned to give such reservation. The manifesto clearly stated that it would follow the model of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh, where Muslims had a sub-quota within the OBC quota. While Karnataka has tried to scrap it, with the BJP government redistributing the Muslim quota among Vokkaligas and Lingayats, the sub-quota for Muslims continues in Kerala.

Ranganath Misra commission and dilution of SC quota

The Congress-led UPA government appointed the National Commission for Religious and Linguistic Minorities, under the chairmanship of Justice Ranganath Misra in 2004. The commission was constituted under the Commission of Inquiry Act 1952 to examine the socio-economic status of religious minorities. Later, its terms of reference were expanded to examine whether Dalit Muslims and Dalit Christians can be included in the Scheduled Caste list.

The SC/ST commission, the constitutional body which is tasked by the Constitution to examine issues related to SCs and STs, had rejected this demand in 2001. This puts into question the legal basis of constituting the Misra commission.

The committee made several controversial recommendations. It stated that the Constitution makers envisioned the list of Scheduled Caste, under Article 341, to be religiously neutral. This interpretation of the Misra committee is contrary to the observation made by VI Munuswamy Pillai during the Constituent Assembly debates in 1949: “all those communities that come-under the category of untouchables and those who profess Hinduism will be the Scheduled Castes, because I want to emphasise about the religion. I emphasise this because of late there have been some movements here and there; there are people who have left Scheduled Castes and Hinduism and joined other religions and they also are claiming to be Scheduled Castes. Such convert cannot come under the scope of this definition.”

The following three recommendations of the commission have received the least attention. They have fuelled the anxieties among Scheduled Castes, which the Prime Minister is currently evoking.

De-scheduling of Scheduled Castes

The Misra commission went beyond its mandate to seek elimination of communities from the SC/ST lists, calling them “privileged classes”. It referred to the report of the Lokur Committee, which was constituted in 1965 for the revision of SC/ST lists,and had recommended that “the time has come when the question of descheduling of relatively advanced communities should receive serious and urgent consideration.”

Deadline on SC/ST lists

The Misra commission also has recommended fixing a deadline to end the SC/ST reservation. “A deadline may be fixed when the lists of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes are totally dispensed with.” It would mean the end of reservation for SC/STs. Such a demand was raised in the Constituent Assembly as well but it was rejected. A 10-year deadline was suggested, but only for political reservation in legislatures—not for education and government jobs. Even the political reservation’s time limit is supposed to be extended through constitutional amendments.

Denial of role of religion and caste in backwardness  

The Misra commission has stated that religion and caste do not determine “socio-economic backwardness.” “There was also a near consensus that ‘religion’ or ‘castes’ do not determine ‘socio-economic backwardness’. Poverty is not religion or caste based and the socially, economically backward should be identified on uniformity applicable criterion throughout the country irrespective of caste, creed/religion affirmatives.” Based on this observation, the commission recommended the elimination of caste-based reservation.

However, this observation of the Misra commission directly denies the role of the practice of untouchability and thereby the prevalence of caste-based discrimination, which has religious roots in the Indian subcontinent. The Constitution makers had categorically mentioned that they were addressing the issue of the backwardness of the Scheduled Castes, which have arisen due to the practice of untouchability. Dr BR Ambedkar played a pivotal role in establishing how religion and caste-based discrimination and exclusion have caused the backwardness of the Scheduled Castes. However, the Misra commission refuted this struggle in one stroke.

The Congress party might argue that it does not have any plan to end caste-based reservation or provide SC/ST/OBC reservation to Muslims, but its reservation policy in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh refutes its claim as far as OBC reservation is concerned. The recommendations of the Ranganath Misra commission further indicate that a section of the party planned to end SC/ST reservation.

Arvind Kumar (@arvind_kumar__), Assistant Professor in the Department of Law and Criminology, Royal Holloway, University of London. Views are personal.

(Edited by Ratan Priya)