New Delhi: The Allahabad High Court’s ruling that Muslims in UP cannot be considered as a minority community has evoked strong responses from the political fraternity.
While UP Congress leader Rashid Alvi said it was for the party spokesperson to issue an official statement on the judgement, he made clear that his party did not agree with the court order.
“I respect the HC verdict but according to 1951 census, percentage wise, Muslims were always one per cent less or more. I don’t why HC has given this judgement. The court should not complicate matters at this stage. Who is the minority in UP? If court thinks that lower class is minority, it’s another thing. Congress still considers Muslims in UP as minority and will continue to consider this. We may go to SC about this, but since I haven’t seen the judgement I can’t say anything now. Our spokesperson will speak on this,” he said.
However, BJP – that’s likely to benefit from the ruling – maintained a guarded silence.
“We heard this on TV and can't comment right away till we see the copy of the judgement. As far as I can make out, the variance in the numerical strength in UP, depriving them of the status, would have major ramifications because the benefits and security that come to minority community will be affected. It would not be fair to say if a judgement will be politically advantageous to a party. There are bound to be affects, but this is not the right time to talk about it,” said BJP leader Rajiv Pratap Rudy.
The judgement seemed to have, for once, united the political fraternity.
Even the Left, that has its own take on minority reservation, agreed with Congress that the judgement was unfortunate.
“The judgement has come in a lightening speed without any political, social and historical consideration. I don’t want to be booked for contempt of court, but this is unfortunate. You can’t tamper with the basic frame of the Constitution. Even the UN charter says you need to recognise minorities,” said CPI-M leader Mohd Salim.
Former prime minister V P Singh – who had appealed the EC to derecognise the BJP for releasing a "communally sensitive" CD – said he did not agree with the court order.
“They have been minorities and minority is relative thing. I don’t agree with the court order. Muslims are still minorities in UP,” he said.
Muslim scholar and member of All India Muslim Law Board
Kamal Faroukhi told CNN-IBN that the decision was unfortunate and will have major political ramifications on the upcoming UP elections.
“Without any disregard to court, I would say it’s unfortunate. Constitution clearly says that Muslims are religious minority. I don’t know in what circumstances the court decided to interpret the Constitution. Muslims are the largest minority group in the country, then why not in UP? This is not the time to discuss these things. BJP is already trying to communalise the issue by releasing that CD and this can have serious repercussions. Whether this or any other government has no choice but to accept the Constitution – Muslims are minorities and their rights need to be protected. That’s what Article 31 says. Now this gives us rights to set up our own institutions like AMU. And is the court saying that Muslims have suddenly become majority n UP?” he said.
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