Sachar Commission Report: Endless Wait For Muslims
P. Jaswanth Rao
the Rajinder Sachar commission appointed by the Prime Minister to evaluate the social, economic and educational status of 150 million Muslims had finally submitted its report after surmounting many difficulties. The backwardness and deprivation of Muslim minority people is well known. The commission estimates and establishes this fact on the basis of painstakingly collated data. According to the report the Muslim minority ranked
somewhat above the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, but below the other backward classes. At the same time the condition of Dalits among the Muslims is pathetic. Based on these finding the commission made its recommendations for their upliftment.
Apart from this, the Sachar commission must be commended for its boldness in observing that the Muslim people “carry a double burden of being labeled as anti-national and as being appeased at the same time”. The report further says, ”while Muslims need to prove on a daily basis that they are not anti-national and terrorists, it is not recognized that the alleged appeasement has not resulted in the desired level of socio-economic development of the community”.
This is the key issue among all the problems being faced by the Muslim people in India . The unemployment, poverty and dwindling educational opportunities are the problems common to all people of India . Sixty years of so-called independent rule has not
solved any of these basic problems; rather worsened them. In this regard the Muslim people and the people belonging to other communities are more or less in the same situation. The way out from this is linked to the basic change of the existing socio-economic and political system, which the Indian people should bring with their collective action.
As observed by the Sachar commission, the key problem is the double burden that Muslim people are made carry. Why this is so?
The Janata party government appointed a minority commission in 1978. Disregarding this commission, the Congress government appointed another commission in 1980 after it came back to power. The report submitted by this commission in 1983 was not placed before the people.There was another report by the commission in 1995 which went into the Muslim representation in the police and paramilitary services. Again a 12-member subgroup of the Planning Commission made its recommendations in 1996. And there were annual reports from the minority commission. All these commissions brought out the plight of Muslim people and suggested measures to improve the situation. But no perceptible efforts were made in this direction.
Now a genuine question arises as to why the government appointed yet another commission while all the relevant data and concomitant recommendations are within its reach? As if it came to know of the situation only today, why is it exhorting that the fruits of development must reach to Muslims first?
The sustained campaign by the sangh parivar that Muslim community is anti-national and every Muslim is a global terrorist had started long back in mid 1980s.While one group of representatives of exploiting ruling classes in India resorted to naked whipping up of hatred against Muslim community, the other section headed by the Congress is using subtle methods to terrorise the Muslims and pose itself as its saviour. The congress is accusing the BJP as a communal force, while the Sangh parivar accuses the Congress as sham secularist and appeaser of Muslims. The reality is such that both the sections are terrorizing and cajoling the Muslim people to make them submissive. It is not accidental or coincidence, that instigating anti-Muslim hatred and whipping up of Hindu communal frenzy was started with advent of the World Bank and IMF dictated neoliberal policies. It is but a deliberate plan of the ruling classes to divide the people so that their opposition to the policies of globalization would be weakend or remained within the manageable bounds. Even a cursory look into the recent past will prove this beyond any doubt.
While the BJP made Ayodhya and ram temple as a sole political agenda, the Congress by allowing silanyas made it reach to every house in the country. While every fact indicated that Sangh parivar is hell bent upon to bring down the Babri Masjid, the Congress government chose to remain as mute spectator to its destruction. Without giving any importance to the genocide following the Babri Masjid, both the Congress and BJP repeatedly focused on the Bombay blasts to brand Muslims as terrorists. This was followed by the Gujarat carnage. In spite of several commissions finding that the Muslims as a community has nothing to do with Godhra incident, and the genocide that followed was state sponsored one, no action was taken against the culprits. To top it all, the Supreme Court punished Afjhal Guru with hanging till death, while observing in its judgment that nothing has been proved beyond reasonable doubt that the accused was in any way conspired to organize the attack on the Parliament, but it is punishing him to sooth the sentiments of the people. Clearly the highest court of the land has acted on political considerations, which is a travesty of justice.
Along with this policy of treating Muslim people as second grade citizens, the ruling classes had resorted to woo them to their side by instituting various commissions, but never cared to implement them and never cared to attend to the just and democratic aspirations of the Muslim community. At the same time these lollipops were being portrayed as appeasement to crystlise the anti-Muslim sentiment. Such is the treachery of the Indian ruling classes to continue their exploitative and oppressive rule.
It is a well documented fact of the history that the people of India are in no way
communal and religious communities lived together for centuries until the British colonial policy makers planned to break the communal amity. This divide and rule policy and carrot and stick method of suppressing the people used by the British rulers was inherited by the Indian ruling classes and they acquired skill in using this weapon to divide the people of India on communal, caste and regional basis in order to continue their rule.
It is the duty of the communist revolutionaries to establish unity among the people through organizing struggles on the basic issues of the people. It is the experience of the Indian communist movement that only when the class struggles were organized without compromise, the people have shown unity across all religions, castes and regions, no matter how hard the ruling classes tried to divide them, their unity remained solid. This is the experience of heroic Telangana peasant armed struggle. It is the same experience in the case of textile workers in Bombay . With this spirit the Communist revolutionaries should champion the democratic demands of Muslim people at the same time strive to organize them into class struggles that will lead to the new democratic revolution in India .|||This is a study report to help formulating the Govt. policies. Besides that the reputation Shri Rjinder Schchar has, that of a Muslim stooge, the credibility of the report is suspect.
Regarding Muslim revolt, forget it. It will be crushed in no time.|||typical official draft leading to nowhere and meaning nothing AND impratical.|||%26quot;It is the duty of the communist revolutionaries to establish unity among the people through organizing struggles on the basic issues of the people.%26quot;
Sounds like a recipe for disaster.|||Sachar commission is a fraud and anti national. It is a betrayal to hindus who were looted of all their belongings %26amp; killed by muslims during 1947 partition based on religion|||The need for Positive action by the central and state govts. in India to the deprived and depressed Muslim community is
very urgent.
The 60 years%26#039; neglect has to be mended now.|||The sachar report cleary states the educational backwardness of muslim community,According to sacharreport there are 39%of OBCand 0.8% scheduled caste in muslim community.
I support this bill which provides reservartions in central universities to scs,sts and oBCs.The persentage of population of graduates as far as muslim are concerned in 1.2%and those attending
P.G is 16.3%which lesser in muslims than in dalits.
When muslims are having reservations in kerala,Tamilnadu and karnataka than why not nation wide?
