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Author: Pioneer News Service
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: February 15, 2006
* NDA goes to President * Ex-Generals to take to streets * Bukhari comes to PMO's support ---- The UPA Government's bizarre move to order a headcount of Muslims in the Indian defence forces has triggered off a political storm in the country. The main Opposition NDA on Tuesday met President APJ Abdul Kalam and sought his intervention to stop the exercise that amounted to "communalisation of military".
The move has also generated intense opposition from military brass. While Army chief General JJ Singh has maintained that the Indian armed forces are "apolitical, secular and professional", ex-servicemen, including retired Generals, on Tuesday announced a protest rally on Wednesday "against politicisation of the armed forces with reference to Muslim personnel".
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) has also opposed the move, saying it disbelieved the UPA Government's stand that such a move was aimed at welfare of any religious minority.
As the Opposition united to mount pressure on the issue, the UPA Government tried to brazen out the heat by claiming that the PMO had no role to play in the controversy.
The committee constituted by the Prime Minister's Office was charged with preparing a report on the social, economic and educational status of Muslims in India, a statement from the PMO said.
The explanation found few takers against the backdrop of the seven-member Sachar Committee's efforts to bulldoze the defence forces into parting with information about Muslims in their ranks.
"The move will not only affect the morale of the armed forces but also communalise the political atmosphere," NDA convener and former Defence Minister George Fernandes said.
As if to substantiate Mr Fernandes' apprehensions, Imam of Delhi's Jama Masjid Syed Ahmed Bukhari defended the PMO's move as "necessary for the benefit of the Muslim community."
"It is the responsibility of the Government to recruit Muslims in all services according to the population pattern of the community," he said, imparting a communal tinge to the controversy.
The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has chalked out a plan to raise the issue forcefully in and out of Parliament.
After the NDA leaders' meeting with the President, Leader of the Opposition LK Advani said the survey could lead to serious consequences. "It's a very serious issue. Nobody has ever thought of holding this kind of an exercise before this Government," he pointed out.
The former BJP chief called the exercise a "shameless attempt to woo the communal vote-bank." In support of his charge of sectarian politics against the Congress, he cited the Government's moves to accord minority institution status to Aligarh Muslim University, to amend the Foreigners Act in a way that would benefit illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and Muslim reservation in Andhra Pradesh institutions. "All these actions are shameless attempts to woo the communal vote-bank," he remarked.
"For the committee to start inquiring into religious denominations of the personnel of the armed forces and further probing the kind of postings being given to each one of them is fraught with dangerous consequences," the NDA said in its memorandum to the President.
The NDA also supported Gen JJ Singh's comments that military recruitment was not based on religious background. It accused the Government of ignoring objections from the armed forces over the matter.
"Is this (survey) a prelude to reservation in military on the basis of religion? It is a remedy worse than the disease. The Army is protesting, and rightly so. However, these protests have fallen on deaf ears of the Government," the NDA memorandum said.
Shiromani Akali Dal secretary-general Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa rejected claims that the Muslim count was aimed at welfare of the members of the community in the defence forces.
In a separate comment, SGPC general secretary Sukhdev Singh Bhaur echoed Mr Dhindsa's views, saying such surveys could do no good to any community. "Tomorrow, there could be another count of any other religious minority and then another, and then another. Such data collection in Government jobs is unacceptable," he said.
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