The “quota within quota” for minorities in employment and educational institutions announced by the government on Thursday has evoked howls of protest from many Muslim leaders. Not only are they dissatisfied with the 4.5 per cent reservation but are also unhappy that the Muslim community has been clubbed with other minorities, thus making its share in the quota pie smaller.
However, not all are in agreement with the Muslim leaders contention. As Prof. Zoya Hasan of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) noted, “Since religion-based reservations are not possible under the Constitution, a viable option is to have a sub-quota within the OBC quota.”
Prof. Hasan also pointed out that with the 50 per cent limit on reservations set by the Supreme Court, the quota provided under the OBC category was okay. She said that it will be something that will be acceptable though there will be resistance to it from the OBCs themselves.
For now though, Muslim leaders too are expressing their unhappiness with the 4.5 per cent quota and repeating their long-held demand that the government implement the recommendations of the Ranganath Misra Commission instead. The Misra panel had suggested 15 per cent reservation for the country’s minorities. Of this, it had said that 10 per cent quota should be for Muslims given their larger share in the minority population while suggesting that the remaining five per cent be kept for other minorities.
Muslim leaders also drew attention to the poor socio-economic and educational condition of the country’s Muslims as pointed out in the seminal Sachar committee report. Ironically, the sub-quota announcement has been made with an eye on the substantial Muslim vote-bank ahead of the Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh.