• India’s Home Minister Amit Sha campaigns in Haryana to stop Muslims from accessing the Indian reservation system preventing them work and education in prominent institutes.
• In a further blunder, a BJP Spokesperson claims Shah was referring to restricting access to the quota system nationally for Muslims and not just in Haryana.
MP for Gandhinagar and Home Minister Amit Shah spoke at an event in Mahendragarh, Haryana on Tuesday in which he continued the Modi and BJP trend of targeting and oppressing India’s Muslims.
The event where he was addressing the state-level Backward Classes Samman Sammelan was also attended by Haryana’s Chief Minister(CM) Nayab Singh Saini.
In India, the term “backward class” is used to refer to castes that are educationally or socially backwards according to the Hindu caste system. The backward communities in India have been divided into three broad divisions: the Scheduled caste (SC), the Scheduled Tribes (ST) and other backward castes (BC).
BJP and Shah Spreading Lies and Accusations
In his tirade against Muslims, the Home Minister alleged that the Indian National Congress (INC) Party’s government in the Indian state ofKarnataka had reallocated BC reservations to Muslims and warned that similar actions could occur in Haryana if the INC is voted back to power in assembly election (Vidhan Sabha) due in October.
“The Congress government gave reservation to Muslims in the BC in Karnataka. If they come to power in Haryana, they will do the same here” Shah warned, urging the gathering to support the BJP in October.
“I want to assure you that we will not allow Muslim reservation in Haryana” he added.
Repeatedly emphasising the BJP’s commitment to the BC community, Shah reminded the audience that Modi’s government is dedicated to Dalits, the poor, and BCs, noting that 27 Union ministers are from these communities, including two from Haryana.
His false claim that the INC has consistently opposed reservation to BCs, while Prime Minister Narendra Modi introduced a 27% quota for BCs in premier educational and medical institutes was only a means to garner support for the BJP in the upcoming state assembly elections.
He asserted that the BJP would form a majority government in Haryana for the third consecutive time.
In a bizarre twist after the event, BJP spokesperson Sanjay Sharma stated:
“The Home Minister was talking in the national context. The implications of the same in the state are yet to be finalised and thus we can’t comment much on it.”
Haryana Muslim Facts
After Home Minister Amit Shah announced that BC reservation won’t be given to Muslims, the INC has asked the BJP to get their facts right. Various leaders have highlighted how Muslims, especially MeoMuslims (originally based in North-West India), are part of the same backward class category from which CM Nayab Saini is from – whom the Home Minister offered high praise at the event – and how the BJP is to “blame” for continuing this classification since 2016.
Of an estimated Muslim population of around 25 lakh, around 16 lakh are Meo Muslims. According to the ‘Haryana Backward Classes (Reservation in Government Jobs and Admissions in Government Jobs and Admissions in Educational Institutions) Bill, 2016, backward classes are divided into two categories. BC ‘A’ is an exhaustive list of 71 castes amongst which 13 are Muslim communities.
Similarly, Meos are included in the BC ‘B’ category along with Ahir/Yadav, Lodh/Lodha/Lodhi, Saini/Shakya/Koeri/Kushwaha/Maurya, Gujjar, and Gosai/Gosain/Goswami.
Opposition Response
Opposition Deputy Leader of Indian National Congress (INC) and MeoMuslim leader Aftab Ahmed of Haryana Legislative Assembly
The following day after the event, Deputy Leader of Opposition and Meo Muslim leader Aftab Ahmed responded by highlighting how 60 per cent of Muslims in Haryana were already part of the backward classlist and enjoyed reservation.
While the INC is credited for it, the BJP endorsed it with the passage of the 2016 reservation Bill under then Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar where various Muslim communities, including Meos, were listed in two BC categories. Ahmed went on to say:
“This shows the bankruptcy of the BJP… The Home Minister chose to address the public but all he could talk about was Hindus or Muslims… He should have talked of the reservation… He chose to communalise the subject which is the [main] characteristic of the BJP.”
He then dared BJP leaders to announce the removal of Muslims from the backward class.
