'The Haj subsidy is a trap used by politicians to curry Muslim votes,' says Abusaleh Shariff, member, Rajinder Sachar Committee.
Handing a warning to the United Progressive Alliance, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav on Saturday said the Centre should immediately implement the Sachhar Committee recommendations for the welfare of Muslims, failing which it will have to go out of power.
In this interview with rediff.com, member-secretary of the Rajinder Sachar Committee on the status of Muslims, Abusaleh Shariff explains the trend, its reasons and ways to reverse it.
A Parliamentary Standing Committee has pulled up the government for mere lip service to the recommendations of the Justice Rajinder Sachar Committee it had itself constituted in 2005 to study the status of Muslims in India.
The Sachar Committee report is not sacrosanct like the Quran and has to be looked at with a critical eye, Minority Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said. "The Sachar Committee report is not Quran. It could be wrong and its recommendations and observations need to be looked at with a critical eye. The recommendations should not be seen as a special thing given to Muslims," he said. The Rajinder Sachar Committee was appointed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
The report was tabled by Minority Affairs Minister A R Antulay.
However, the panel was silent on the issue of reservations for Muslims.
He brought to the fore the socio-economic and educational conditions of the Muslim community.
Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party on Monday promised reservations to Muslims as well as Marathas, implementation of Rajinder Sachar committee report, and support for `statehood to Andaman and Nicobar' in its manifesto for the Lok Sabha elections, released in Mumbai.
The Bombay High Court on Friday stayed implementation of the controversial decision of the erstwhile Congress-Nationalist Congress Party government in Maharashtra to provide reservation to Marathas in government jobs and educational institutions announced ahead of the state assembly election.
'Electricity, better roads and uninterrupted water supply are problems for everyone in India, not Muslims alone.' 'Regional parties are solving these problems much better. And for that reason, Muslims favour regional parties.'
With its refusal to accept the modern social values, the Indian Muslim community is going down the slope of progress, says Najid Hussain.
'Bangladeshi Muslims want to increase their population in India.' 'They have made colonies in India.' 'Rohingyas are doing the same.' 'This has to stop.'
'Is Rahul turning the Congress' covert soft-Hindutva support into overt support now?' 'And if so, following in the BJP's footsteps, is the Congress going to abandon Indian Muslims and Muslim causes altogether?' asks Dr Najid Hussain whose father-in-law former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri was killed during the Gujarat riots.
'Muslims are depressed and disillusioned.' 'The safety valve is that we still have a multicultural mosaic in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala.'
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