Looking at the recent disturbances across the country involving minorities, justice MN Rao, chairman of the National Commission of Backward Classes and former chief justice of Himachal Pradesh High Court, has called for a look back into the past and review of the reservation policy.
Speaking on `Minorities and National Integration’ at the 5th Justice Mohammed Rafeeuddin Ahmed Ansari Memorial Lecture here on Saturday, he said reservation should not be on the basis of religion but on the basis of the social and economic backwardness of classes. Explaining cases of religious, linguistic and ethno-religious minorities, he said minorities in the country were fully protected though they still lagged behind some others. He recollected his acquaintance with justice Ansari in the 1950s.
NALSAR University of Law vice-chancellor Faizan Mustafa wondered who could be termed a minority. According to his knowledge, he said, there is no definition of minority community in the Constitution but if international definitions were taken into account all powerless groups were minorities. Referring to Rao’s remark that Mohammed Ali Jinnah had sowed the seeds of Partition, Mustafa said Jinnah forged Hindu-Muslim unity but divided Muslims into three different countries. ``It was in the interest of the country that minority educational institutions were established. How can a country with such a minority population progress unless we set up minority institutions of secular interest,” he asked and asserted that religious knowledge alone would not make a community progress. “India is a diversity, India is a heterogeneousness. Let us celebrate it,” he said.
Justice V Eshwariah, judge of the AP High Court, said people of one community should protect and respect members of other communities. “Policies have failed to bring communities together but society has realised the need for harmony, peace and tranquility,” he said.
Comments
0 comment