Indian Muslims not represented in own constituencies

At least 17 assembly constituencies in three major Indian states with a large number of Muslims are reserved for Scheduled Caste members, a government-sanctioned committee reviewing the socio-economic and educational status of Muslims concluded.

The committee’s report, chaired by Justice Minister Justice Rajinder Sachar, found that 27 constituencies in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, are “reserved” for Scheduled Castes even though the three states have a large Muslim population.

Parliamentary and assembly constituencies are usually reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes on the basis of the population ratio. This means that only members of these communities can contest elections from these seats.

“It is a clear case of blocking the possibility of Muslims getting elected to legislative assemblies,” said T.K. Oommen, a sociologist and a member of the Sachar Committee.

Noting that the 140 million Muslims in India, who are scattered all over the country, had not been represented well in legislative bodies, Oommen said that reserving Muslim-dominated regions for Scheduled Castes further hampers Muslims’ participation in the political process.

“You can never reserve a Scheduled Tribe-dominated constituency for Scheduled Castes,” he stressed. “It may not be deliberate. But unwittingly it has reduced the representation of Muslims.”

“If you follow the logic, reservation for Scheduled Castes should be done in constituencies only where they are in majority. The committee cannot say why this has happened.”

The Sachar panel said it examined the reserved constituencies in these three states to find out whether Muslims’ political participation in the country was blocked.

“Our analysis relating the reserved constituencies for the Scheduled Castes candidates in three states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal suggest there is truth in the allegation,” the report states.

According to the committee, discrimination runs rampant in some reserved constituencies.

In Najibabad constituency of Uttar Pradesh, Muslims constitute 49.2% of the population while Scheduled Castes are just 23%.

And in Nagina, also in the same state, 42.3% of the population are Muslims, and the Scheduled Castes population is just 21.6%.

West Bengal's Sagardighi, where Muslims comprise 62.2%, is reserved for Scheduled Castes. The same is true for Kaliganj, which has 55.6% Muslims.

Earlier this month, the Sachar committee reported that Indian Muslims are severely under-represented in the police, the army and are almost non-existent in the country's spy agencies.

Eighty percent of the India’s officially secular population is Hindu, but the country also hosts substantial minorities of Christians, Buddhists and Sikhs, as well as the world's third-largest population of Muslims.

There have been several attacks on the Muslim community since India's independence from British rule in 1947 and the formation of Pakistan. Thousands of Muslims have been killed in riots, with police often accused of turning a blind eye to the violence against them.

"There has to be very serious and effective public action particularly in education and employment as well to prevent discrimination against Muslims," Indian analyst Mahesh Rangarajan says.

-- AJP and Agencies