New Delhi: The Allahabad High Court’s ruling that Muslims are not a minority in Uttar Pradesh has once again sparked a debate on who are the minorities.
The word minority is used in Articles 29 and 30 of the Constitution but it has not been clearly defined. The High Court went by a Census report when it ruled that Muslims in UP must not get any special favours as minorities. According to the 2001 Census, Muslims comprise 13.4 per cent of India’s population and 18.5 per cent of UP’s population.
The court seems to have taken the stand that 18.5 per cent doesn’t make Muslims a minority community in UP. Muslim organisations strongly disagreed with the order and the Census report.
Describing it as an "unfortunate" verdict, the Imam of Fatehpuri mosque Mufti Mohammed Mukaram said, "Muslims are in a minority in the country and they should get all the benefits of their minority status."
Mukaram questioned the criteria for the data relied upon the Allahabad high court. "The census of 2001 was incomplete and at that time itself we had raised objections about its credibility. We want the government to order a fresh census to decide about the minority status of Muslims," he was quoted by PTI as saying.
Syed Ahmad Shah Bukhari, the Shahi Imam of Jama Masjidm, said: "We will approach the apex court challenging the Allahabad High Court decision that denies minority status to Muslims in Uttar Pradesh."
One Muslim leader though agreed with the court ruling. "We are the second largest majority in India and we ourselves are against minority status for Muslims. But, then we should get equal rights, facilities and opportunities being enjoyed by non-minority communities," said Jamat-e-ulema-al Hind leader Mahmood Madani.
The High Court passed the order while hearing the Anjuman Madarsa Noorul Islam Dehra Kalan's case against the State of Uttar Pradesh. The madrasa in Ghazipur district had challenged out of turn grant-in-aid to certain other minority institutions.
Comments
0 comment