Home minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday told a conference of state minority commissions that ?reservation is the most effective instrument that we have today? on affirmative action.
Chidambaram?s Cabinet colleague and minority affairs minister Salman Khurshid went a step further, saying the Congress was committed to giving backward Muslims a share in the reservation list for backward classes as it was a promise the party had made in its election manifesto.
The statements by the two ministers come at a time when Muslim leaders are demanding implementation of the Ranganath Misra Commission report which had suggested 15% reservation for minorities in government employment and education.
Last week, the Supreme Court allowed Andhra Pradesh to offer 4% reservation in education and jobs to the backward among Muslims till a Constitution Bench decides whether the state law is ?religion specific? or a piece of social welfare legislation.
Addressing the conference, Chidambaram said: ?Reservation is perhaps the most effective instrument of affirmative action that we have been able to forge. If there is a better instrument, we should certainly debate that instrument. ? He said the reports of the Justice Sachar committee and Ranganath Misra Commission and the study by Satish Deshpande (on Dalit Muslims and Dalit Christians commissioned by the National Commission for Minorities) had highlighted the ?dark aspects? of society, polity and economy and each one in its own way had pointed the usefulness and limits of reservation.
He said the debate for reservation must, however, take into account aspects like reservation for socially, educationally and economically backward classes which are sanctified in the Constitution, the desirability and need for compartmental reservation and the ceiling on reservation placed by the Supreme Court.
He also said that a new law to deal with communal violence would become a reality this year. He said there is an ?urgent need to dispel any misgiving on the part of the minority community and assure them that the Centre is committed to preserve, protect and promote secular values and provide equality of opportunity to all religious minorities.?
While Khurshid spoke about the Congress?s poll commitment to include backward Muslims in the OBC list, it could prove to be a double-edged sword for the Congress. The Muslim leadership has already shot down the idea, giving backward Muslims a share in the OBC quota could anger the backward classes who enjoy reservation benefits.
According to Khurshid, it was time to ?go beyond reservation? and think about affirmative action. He said backward Muslims could benefit from affirmative action as it has benefited Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
He said the government also favoured a ?fresh look? at the Supreme Court restriction on the government for notifying any community as national minority?an indication that it wants inclusion of more communities in such a list.
His ministry, Khurshid said, wanted to declare a district as minority concentrated district even if it has 15% of such population. At present, any district should have 25% minority population to make it eligible for being declared a minority concentrated district.