Reserved for incompetence

Many political leaders and so called saviours of the minorities are of the opinion that reservation is the panacea for all economic and social ills of the community. For them, reservation in educational institutions and government jobs is a must for extricating Muslims from the quagmire of degradation.

However, many Muslim seers, including Sir Syed Ahmad Khan (1817-1898), took a stand against religion-based reservation. Khan, one of those who charted out the course of modern India, is widely known for working towards the educational advancement of Muslims, which eventually culminated in the formation of the Aligarh Muslim University. A true saviour of the Indian Muslims, he refashioned the destiny of the community.

Sir Syed strove all his life to rouse the Muslims from their slumber. For this, he decided to initiate an intimate and living dialogue on all questions of their life: political, social, educational, religious and metaphysical.

He was also instrumental in shaping the destiny of the country. As Member of the Viceroy Legislative Council, he presented several Bills that went a long way in ushering administrative reforms. And to provide much needed guidance and solace, Sir Syed started a bilingual weekly in Urdu and English, The Aligarh Institute Gazette in 1866.

Before the mutiny, when the Muslims were subjected to ghastly atrocities and unprecedented savagery, many Muslim organisations and Urdu Newspapers made a strong plea for reservation in government jobs. They believe that reservation would go a long way in assuaging the bruised psyche of the community and would also instill self confidence among them.

In 1877, when the British was firmly in the saddle, a Muslim organisation, Anjuman-e-Islamia, in Delhi made a petition to the Government of Punjab for 50 per cent job reservation for Muslims. This demand sparked a polemic debate, with majority of the Urdu papers supporting it.

But Sir Syed came down heavily against the campaign for reservation. In a strongly-worded editorial in the Aligarh Institute Gazette (June 2, 1877), he justified the Punjab Government’s stand that it was not supposed to provide jobs on the basis of the religion. The sole criterion for getting a government job should be competence, he said.

Stating that reservation was not the cure, Sir Syed said it only gave a false notion of self-confidence. According to him, Indians, especially Muslims, had got accustomed to relying on short-cuts, yearning for something without being qualified for it. Sir Syed rightly advised Muslims to concentrate on education before aspiring for government jobs.

Not that he considered government jobs to be the sole purpose of getting a proper education. A judicial officer during the British Raj, Sir Syed did not hold government service in very high esteem, even describing it as one of the worst jobs. Job reservation would hardly serve the purpose of nation-building, he pointed out.

Over a century later, Sir Syed’s views on reservation for Muslim are still pertinent and relevant. Instead of relying the generosity of others, Muslims should strive to excel in every sphere of life by focussing on their education.

The writer is a professor at Aligarh Muslim University