Patna, Jan 30 (PTI) President of the All India Pasmanda Muslim Mahaz (AIPMM), Ali Anwar on Sunday termed the Centre’s reported move to explore the possibility of providing scheduled caste benefits to Muslim and Christian dalits as a “political gimmick” to woo voters ahead of the assembly poll in five states.
There were recommendations by the Ranganath Misra Commission for providing SC benefits to dalits of the two communities. But the Centre had rejected the Commission’s study on the ground that there was no field study or data on the subject, Anwar said in a statement.
He said, “The intention of the central government is quite clear. In fact, the NDA government at the Centre does not want to provide SC benefits to Muslim and Christian dalits at all. While Hindu, Sikh and Buddhist dalits enjoy SC status as per the presidential order issued under Article 341 of the Constitution in 1950 and amendments thereafter, those from Christian or Muslim communities do not”.
Anwar said the Ranganath Misra Commission had in 2007 recommended that the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950, should be deleted to delink SC status with religion and grant religion-neutral status to all dalits, like the scheduled tribes.
“Why did the NDA government at the Centre not accept the Ranganath Misra Commission report? Why is it exploring the formation of a national panel to examine whether dalits converted to Christianity or Muslim religions should be given SC status ? It’s a mere political gimmick of the NDA government, it is not interested in providing SC benefits to Muslim and Christian dalits. Whatever the NDA government is doing is just to woo voters ahead of the upcoming assembly elections,” he said.
The AIPMM is an apolitical organisation working for backward sections among the Muslim community.
There were reports that the Centre is contemplating setting up of panel to explore the possibilities of providing SC status to Muslim and Christian dalits. An inter-ministerial discussion is reportedly under way to elicit views on the proposal to set up a national commission on scheduled caste converts to other religions under the Commission of Inquiries Act, 1952 which would assess implications of such addition to the existing SC list. PTI PKD KK KK KK
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.
Source: The Print
