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Justice
Rajinder Sachar Committee was ostensibly appointed by
the UPA Government to look into the matters concerning
"Social, Economic and Educational Status of the Muslim
Community". The subject matter itself shows as if
the social, economic and educational problems in the
other communities and among the followers of other religions
in India do not exist. If that is not the case, then
it can be safely said that even if the social, economic
and educational problems do exist in other communities
and amongst the followers of other religions in India,
they do not merit any attention because they do not
form a vote-bank or they do not form a "very strong,
well knit and well-organized minority… that could force
the partition of the country."1
Be it as it may.
However,
while going through Sachar Committee report, one can
see that it is not only full of inaccurate data but
also dwells in the realm of fantasy in many areas. A
large number of problems and deprivations that are being
faced by most of the Indians, irrespective of caste,
creed and religion, have been presented as those of
Muslims' alone. Many of the problems discussed in the
report have nothing to do with the polity, government
and the economic condition. They emanate directly from
the social customs and the religious beliefs. It is
impossible to believe that Justice Sachar and his learned
colleagues are unaware of this aspect of the problem.
They have simply ignored it. Why? Only they can explain
that. The entire report reads like compilation of reasonable
and unreasonable complaints, grievances and demands
of Muslims since independence.
One
can reasonably expect that be many people will continue
to discuss various aspects of this report for sometime
to come. My purpose is limited; only to discuss the
insinuating statement concerning the "political participation
of the Muslims" and the recommendation that the report
has made in the matter. The notification of the Government
of India certainly had not mandated the Committee to
go into political matters. But it still has gone into
it. What is most shocking is that it has suggested the
very same remedy that the most rabid Muslim communalists
have been asking for and the very same remedy which
was based on two-nation theory that finally led to the
unprecedented human miseries, both for the Hindus and
Muslims, and partition of the country. The remedy suggested
by the Committee is the reservation, though it has not
used this word, in the legislature and in the other
elected bodies. The report says:
"4.5
Political Participation, Governance and Equity
"As
has been indicated earlier in the chapter, many persons
the Committee interacted with, felt that lack of adequate
"Muslim Voice" in the Government, even in local self
government bodies and similar other grassroots institutions
has resulted in a situation that Muslims have lagged
behind. In their view, political participation and
representation in government structure are essential
to achieve equity. It was alleged by many that participation
is denied to Muslims through a variety of mechanism.
Two specific instances were cited in this context:
-
Non-Inclusion of Muslims in the voter lists:It
was pointed out that many names of Muslims were
missing in the voter lists of a number of states.
Not only does this dis-empower them, it also makes
them ineligible as beneficiaries of government
scheme.
- Notification
of Reserved Constituencies: Attention of the
Committee was drawn to the issue of Muslim concentration
assembly being declared as 'reserved' constituencies
where only SC candidates can contest election.
By this move, it was argued that Muslims are being
systematically denied political participation.
"While
the Committee could not look into the issue of voter
lists, an effort was made to ascertain the facts on
the issue of reserved constituencies. Our analysis
relating to the reserved constituencies for the SC
candidates in three states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar
and West Bengal (See Appendix 2.1) suggests that there
is truth in the allegation above."*
*Note to the above: Data relating to the
reserved Constituencies for the SC candidates in three
states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and West Bengal was
analysed by the Committee (Appendix Table 2.2) These
states have relatively large share of the Muslim population
in India. The data shows that constituencies which
have been declared reserved for SCs by the delimitation
Commission in these three states are by and large
the constituencies where Muslims live in greater number
often more than 50 percent as well as their proportion
in the population is higher than that of SCs. On the
other hand, there are quite a large number of other
constituencies within the respective states, where
the share of SCs is large, often closer to or even
more than half but these are declared 'un-reserved'.
Arguably, this can be seen as discriminatory and certainly
reduces the opportunities that Muslims have to get
elected to democratic institution.2
The
Committee then suggests method for greater participation
of the Muslims in the political process in the following
manner:
"Establishing
a More rational Procedure for Delimitation of Constituencies
"The Committee also recommends the elimination
of the anomalies with respect to reserved constituencies
under the delimitation schemes discussed in Chapter
2. A more rational delimitation procedure that does
not reserved constituencies with high minority population
share for SCs will improve the opportunity for the
minorities, especially the Muslims, to contest and
get elected to Indian Parliament and the State Assemblies.
Apart from these two initiatives it is important
to evolve other methods to enhance political participation
of the Community.3
These
recommendations, though discussed and contained (one
could easily say hidden away) in just two paragraphs
of the report, become significant in the light of explanations
given by Abusaleh Shariff, Member Secretary in the Sachar
Committee. Mr. Shariff writes:
"It
is a cruel irony that the development process by passed
in particular Muslims who stayed back in India after
the partition - those from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and
West Bengal. The root cause of this neglect is lack
of political empowerment. While the Constitution and
the democratic framework allowed Muslims to maintain
their identity and profess their faith, their representation
in political system has suffered. This impacted their
participation in governance."4
After
this the Mr. Shariff talks about the population ratio
in terms of Muslims belonging to the OBC, SC and ST
categories. This is nothing less than a revelation that
among the Muslims there exists caste system which discriminated
them socially within the the realm of Islam (peace
be on Prophet!). Mr. Shariff now gives the solution
of the problem
"However,
problems of Muslim deprivation cannot be addressed
adequately through extension and implementation of
reservations alone. OBC reservations apply only to
public employment, and now at higher levels of education.
With the report detailing the nature of discrimination
against Muslim, the challenge before Government, political
class, private sector and civil society is to create
institutional mechanism to ensure the delivery of
essential public goods.
"To begin with, Muslims should be represented in
political bodies, policy-making agencies, administration
and law-enforcement agencies in relation to their
share in the population."5
Before
we start looking at the implications of the Sachar Committee;
the roots of such recommendations; and debate in the
Constituent Assembly on the question of reservation
or weightage of any kind - be it in the field of 'political
participation' or the services, let us look at the above
two comments in general light.
Non-Inclusion
of Muslims in the Voters lists
The
report presents the case of the exclusion of voters
from the list as if it is an issue of the Muslims alone.
Let us first confess that is it not a fact that many
a times omissions of individuals, families and even
localities from the voters' list happens for a variety
of reasons - families not at the station at the time
of the revision of the voters list; not taking any interest
or checking the voters' list to see that their names
are in the list; and, of course, the political parties
conniving with the officers responsible for the revision
of voters list for the inclusion of 'their' people and
even the exclusion of voters which they suspect that
they will vote against? West Bengal and Bihar, indeed,
have set new lights in this matter. In one instance
even the name of the Chief Election Commissioner and
several senior civil servants living in most important
localities were not there in the voters list. Several
of the employees in the Rashtrapati Bhawan, living there
itself also have the distinction of not being on the
voters list. Can we really say that all these instances
happened because of the fact that they were Muslims?
In fact, nearly all of them were non-muslims. Let us
accept that missing names from voters list is a disease
which has its origin in the carelessness on the part
of the people responsible for preparation and revision
of voters list and apathy on the part of the people
at individual as well as community levels. Also, to
say that this disease is confined to the Muslim Community
alone or deliberately directed towards Muslims is nothing
but trivialization of the problem and travesty of truth.
Notification
of Reserved Constituencies
Regarding
the notification on the Reserved Constituencies, Justice
Sachar and his colleagues have gone a few steps beyond
than what even the most fundamentalists among the Muslims
have been demanding for. To know this, one has to see
some of the journals published by Muslim organisations.
They have been listing almost 115 Parliamentary and
over 1000 Assembly seats which have substantial Muslim
population and therefore voters. The report recommends
"the elimination of the anomalies with respect to reserved
constituencies under the delimitation schemes discussed
in Chapter-2." It further recommends "a more rational
delimitation procedure that does not reserved constituencies
with high minority population share". In other words
Sachar Committee recommends the reservation of seats
on the basis of communal electorates which is nothing
but resurrecting the ghost of two-nation theory.
Another point in this regard that needs attention is
the changing population metrics in various regions of
the country. Certain areas pointed out Sachar Committee
have witnessed an unprecedented, unnatural and unexplainable
growth in the Muslim population in the last just two
to three decades i.e. much after the delimitation of
the constituencies. Some of the areas of Assam, almost
whole of the west Bengal, Bihar and the constituencies
boarding Nepal are telling examples of such growths.
Representation
in Political Bodies
The
question of reservation of seats, on the basis of the
communal electorates, was considered in detail by the
Advisory Committee appointed by the Constituent Assembly.
In the beginning the Advisory Committee which was chaired
by H.C. Mookerjee, himself a Christian, recommended
for the reservation of seats for the minorities, including
Muslims, on the principle of proportional representation
in terms of population, to be elected by joint electorate
and not on the basis of communal and 'separate electorates'.
The proposal said that:
"All
elections to the Central and Provincial Legislatures
will be held on the basis of joint electorates with
reservation of seats for certain specified minorities
on their population ratio. This reservation shall
be for a period of ten years at the end of which the
position is to be reconsidered. There shall be no
weightage. But members of the minority communities
for whom seats are reserved shall have the right to
contest general seat."6
It
must be mentioned here that Muslim League was also part
of the Advisory Committee and the Constituent Assembly.
The decision to do away with the separate electorates
was taken by an overwhelming majority, near consensus.
However,
the recommendations of the Advisory Committee were taken
up for discussion in the Constituent Assembly on 27
and 28 August. After detailed discussion it was decided
to defer the matter because the "effect of the Redcliff
award on the population structure of East Punjab and
West Bengal was not accurately known; further a tragic
and immense migration of population was taking place
across the frontiers of these Provinces."7
The
Advisory Committee on Fundamental Rights, Minorities,
and Tribals and Excluded Areas met on 24 February, 1948.
In order to come to a quick, reasonable and expeditious
solution of the issue, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar suggested that
a small committee may be appointed. "He proposed that
the committee should consist of: The Hon'ble Sardar
Vallabhbhai Patel, as its Chairman; the hon'ble Pt.
Jawaharlal Nehru; the Hon'ble Dr. Rajendra Prasad; Shri
K.M. Munshi; and the Hon'ble Dr. B.R. Ambedkar. The
suggestion was agreed to. It was also agreed that the
report the report of this special committee should come
up before the Advisory Committee for their consideration."8
This sub-committee submitted its report on 23 November
1948. The Advisory Committee considered this report
on 30 December, 1948.
The
report was discussed in the Constituent Assembly for
two days, 25 and 26 May 1949. The recommendations as
adopted by the Assembly were included in the Draft Constitution.
In nutshell, the committee recommended that
"Some
members of the Committee felt that, conditions having
vastly changed since the Advisory Committee made their
recommendations in 1947, it was no longer appropriate
in the context of free India and of present conditions
that there should be reservation of seats for Muslims,
Christians, Sikhs or any other religious minority.
Although the abolition of separate electorates had
removed much of the poison from the body politic,
the reservation of seats for religious communities,
it was felt, did lead to a certain degree of separatism
and was to that extent contrary to the conception
of secular democratic State."9
The
Committee resolved:
"That
the system of reservation for minorities other than
Scheduled Castes in Legislatures be abolished."10
The
Committee had already rejected the proposal of reservation
in the services for any community except for the Scheduled
Caste and Scheduled tribes.
Meaning
of Sachar Committee Report
However,
in the face of the Sachar Committee report and the Prime
Minister saying that the "Muslims have first right on
the resources of the nation" has put not only the principle
of 'equality' and 'equal opportunity for all' irrespective
of caste, creed and religion on a burner but also the
whole Constitution is being put into the dust-bin. I
leave it to the 'wisdom' of our leaders, academia, and
the experts. In the next two chapters of this intervention
paper I have discussed the relevant discussions in the
Constituent Assembly on the issues dealt with by the
Sachar Committee. It is necessary to understand that
some of the recommendations of the Sachar Committee
are nothing but an assault on the Constitution of India
which is already under heavy strain in the hands of
our 'leaders' who are more concerned for their votes,
elections, and powers than things concerning the future
of the country.
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