The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Vijayawada News : Move to include Muslims in BC list opposed

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Saturday, Apr 23, 2005

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Vijayawada

Move to include Muslims in BC list opposed

Staff Reporter

Slogan-shouting by minorities at panel hearing

TOPIC OF DEBATE: Members of the Andhra Pradesh BC Commission trying to pacify representatives of BC organisations and Muslim minorities before commencement of the debate, in Vijayawada on Friday. Photo: Ch. Vijaya Bhaskar

VIJAYAWADA: Members of various organisations representing Backward Classes, on Friday, opposed the State Government's proposal to include Muslim minorities in the list of BCs.

Mild tension prevailed on the premises of the Sub-Collector's office, the venue for the public hearing being conducted across the State by members of the Andhra Pradesh Commission for Backward Classes, to elicit public views on the contentious issue.

Keeping in view the sensitivity of the issue, the commission members decided to conduct two separate sessions for BCs and the Muslim minorities to elicit their suggestions and objections, if any.

Even while the first round attended by the BCs was in progress, representatives of various Muslim organisations, led by the Vijayawada West MLA. Sk. Nazar Vali, picked up an altercation with the police personnel posted outside for denying them an audience with the commission members.

Enraged by the denial, Muslims started raising slogans. Mr. Vali, however, pacified them after he was let in to submit a memorandum to the commission members.

`Not socially backward'

Leaders of Yadava Mahasabha, the BC Welfare Association, the Akhila Bharata Vidyarthi Parishad and many other affiliated bodies, objected to the move arguing that unlike the BCs, Muslim minorities were not socially

backward. Reiterating that reservations should be given only to economically backward classes, they cited the vast properties of the Wakf Board, the various concessions being extended to Muslim minorities, the large number of educational institutions set up exclusively for the community and other benefits enjoyed by them.

"Of the 93 sub-castes under the BCs, a major chunk of them are languishing in poverty in remote villages which are completely cuff off from the outside world. The Government should think of their uplift," they suggested.

Finding fault with the GO. No. 33 envisaging inclusion of the Muslim minorities in the BC list, they questioned the Government as to why reservations were not being implemented in proportion to the ratio of the population.

The Muslims, meanwhile, contended that if at all anyone deserved reservations based on the economic status, it was their community, which continued to lag behind in terms of development.

The Commission headed by the retired High Court judge, D. Subramanyam, decided to tour nine districts across the State to gather information on the status of Muslim minorities in educational institutions and in the employment sector based on a random survey. "We have completed the hearing sessions in Hyderabad, Anantapur, Kurnool and Guntur. After Vijayawada, it would be held in Visakhapatnam, Nizamabad and Karimnagar," the commission member V. Krishna Mohan Rao, said.

Report on May 24

The commission is expected to submit its report to the State Government by

May 24. "We have also sought information from Karnataka and Kerala where similar surveys were conducted," added Mr. Rao.

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