What reality is brought in light …

The forces of Hindutva are constantly preaching that Muslims are being appeased by the government and secular parties. Had it been so the condition of Muslims would not have been as wretched as the Justice Rajindar Sachar Committee has found. According to the Sachar Committee report, 94.9 per cent rural BPL Muslim families do not get free ration, only 3.2 per cent get subsidised loan and just 1.9 per cent benefit from the government’s subsidised food programme. As many as 62.2 per cent do not have any land in the rural areas against the national average of 43 per cent. Sixty per cent of the urban Muslims never attend school and only 0.8 per cent Muslims in the rural areas are graduate. In the urban areas 3.1 per cent Muslims are graduates. This is what the so-called appeasement has given them. Their condition in education and employment is worse than even the Scheduled Castes. It is for the Hindutva forces to think seriously about their false propaganda, which has doubtless annoyed the largest minority community in this land of ours. Under the circumstances in which Muslims exist in the country we have Maoist armed struggles in tribal and other backward areas in many States; and yet, despite such a deplorable condition to which they are subjected, even strong peaceful protests on the part of the Muslims are missing. Secular parties too have failed to take up the causes of Muslims. Even the constitutional provisions for them have not been implemented. Their representation in Parliament and the State Assemblies is decreasing. It is unfortunate that Muslim organisations and the Imams, who raise religious issues of Muslims, mostly do not care to raise seriously such questions afflicting the community as low education, negligible employment, extreme poverty. On the Shah Bano case they rallied in lakhs, but they have never done so on the issue of poverty. At some Milli Council and Jamiat-e-Ulema meetings I had raised this point but to no avail.