Muslim outfits oppose sub-quota within OBC quota

Repeating their demand for implementation of the Justice Ranganath Misra commission report....

Repeating their demand for implementation of the Justice Ranganath Misra commission report,leaders of prominent Muslim outfits on Tuesday said they were against carving out a quota for the community within the existing 27 per cent OBC reservation.They said the backwardness of the Muslim community has been underlined by the Justice Sachar committee report and hence the need of the hour was to provide separate reservation for backward sections of the community.

There is a talk of carving out 3 per cent reservation for Muslims in the 27 per cent quota earmarked for other backward classes. This is totally unacceptable, said S Q R Ilyas,Jamat-e-Islami Hind leader on behalf of the Coordination Committee of Muslim organisations.

Muslim leaders saw political motive in the talk of a sub-quota for minorities within the OBC quota. Some felt the aim was to create a tricky situation for parties like the Samajwadi Party and the RJD that relied heavily on the Muslim-Yadav combination.

If such a proposal was mooted,then the Yadav chieftains,who are demanding sub-quota for Muslims in the Womens Reservation Bill along with Muslim outfits,would be forced to take a stand,they said. With elections round the corner in Bihar and two years away in UP,any division in this combination could augur problems for them,they added.

The Misra commission had suggested 15 per cent reservation for minorities 10 per cent for Muslims. It had also suggested the alternative way which could be carving out an 8.4 per cent sub-quota for minorities within the 27 per cent OBC quota as suggested by the Mandal Commission report.