Author: Akhilesh Suman
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: February 11, 2007
Thousands of Pasmanda (OBC and Dalit) Muslims
gathered here on Saturday under the banner of All India Pasmanda Muslim Mahaj
to demand speedy implementation of Sachar Committee Report and to protest
against the "conspiracy" of the elite upper caste Muslims to deny
them the benefits of reservation.
The protesters also submitted a memorandum
to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, saying that the soul of the Sachar Committee
report was to highlight the plight of backward and Dalit Muslims. Specific
policies under the 15-point programme for Muslims, as announced by the UPA
Government, should cater to the Pasmanda Muslims, the memorandum added.
"There should be planning for the backward
Muslims, including the Dalit Muslims, wherever possible in conjunction with
their counterparts in other religions with mechanisms to preclude discrimination
and the Planning for non-backward poor Muslims should be undertaken as for
the poor among all religious communities," the memorandum stated.
This socially variegated profile of the Muslim
religious community has been identified by Sachar Committee, too, and classified
as Ashraf, Ajlaf and Arzal (forward, backward and most backward).
While rubbishing the demand by a section of
Muslim leadership, the convener of the gathering called Pasmanda Mahapanchayat,
Ali Anwar said, "Sachar Committee recommends to make a difference in
the Muslim community on the basis of caste and provide justice to the lower
caste Muslims as per their social and educational backwardness among the community
itself."
According to Anwar, "It is a conspiracy
of the elite and traditional Muslim leadership to see the community as homogeneous
and monolithic." The treatment of OBC and Dalit Muslims should be on
par with those in the Hindu community, he added.
Pasmanda is a new political phenomenon in
the country as till now Muslims were not differentiated according to their
"caste". It is seen as a direct challenge to the traditional Muslim
leadership which uses emotive or religious issues to mobilise support.
Anwar, who is a Rajya Sabha member associated
with the Janata Dal (U), was spearheading this movement for last few years
and it fetched results in the Bihar Assembly election when majority of Pasmanda
Muslims revolted against traditional Muslim politics that helped Lalu Prasad
Yadav for a decade.
"Our main concern is to raise the issue
of economic deprivation and unemployment among the Muslims and we want to
take the community away from the fold of mosques and mullahs," Anwar
asserted. "We are the worst sufferers of the UPA Government's economic
policies that are adversely affecting weavers and retailers in the country,"
he added.
Sharad Yadav, president of Janata Dal (U),
was present at the rally and he extended full support to the demands of Pasmanda
Muslims.
The Pasmanda leaders criticised the old Muslim
leadership right from Abul Kalam Azad and said most of those who wanted to
stay back in India after Partition were Pasmanda Muslims, but were not given
importance by the community's elites.
"When Baba Saheb Ambedkar asked Azad
whether he (Azad) wanted reservation for Dalit Muslims as Hindu Dalits have
got, Azad replied in the negative, saying that all Muslims read Kalama together
so there is no distinction amongst the community on the basis of caste,"
said Hazi Muhammad Khalil Ansari, one of the leaders present in the gathering
who came from Bihar.
"Who are Pasmanda Muslims, only those
who converted form lower caste Hindus and are still being identified by their
pre-conversion caste identities and social status," Haroon Ansari, another
leader, told The Pioneer. The rally that started from Daryaganj in Delhi terminated
at Jantar Mantar near Parliament. People were standing for more than four
hours to hear their leaders amidst the rain and cold winter breeze.
