Muslim quota in Andhra Pradesh: Muslim community segregated based on professions for reservations

By Syed Akbar
Hyderabad, May 22: The State Backward Classes Commission has
launched a mega exercise to segregate Muslims on the basis of their
profession for purpose of reservations in educational institutions and
government jobs.
The State government plans to cover about 90 per cent of Muslims by
segregating them based on their nature of work. Muslims in
Maharashtra, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh enjoy the reservation facility
under the "OBC" category after the respective State governments
enacted legislation grouping the community on the basis of their
traditional professions.
The Congress government in the State, which failed to implement the
Muslim quota due to legal hurdles, has referred the matter to the
Backward Classes Commission to hold hearing afresh on the demand
for reservations to Muslims based on their traditional or ancestral
professions. The Commission is now flooded with demands from
various Muslim groups for inclusion in the BC list.
Unlike Muslims in Maharashtra, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, those in
Andhra Pradesh do not have hereditary social professions. Andhra
Pradesh has only a few Muslim social groups like Qureshi (butchers)
and Noor Basha. But they already enjoy the quota benefits. Now the
government wants to provide quota for Muslim barbers, toddy tappers,
dhobis, traditional mendicants, tailors, weavers and shepherds.
"In UP and other northern States Muslims have a clear-cut social
demarcation. This is not the case with Muslims in Andhra Pradesh.
Though we have Muslim dhobis, Muslim weavers and Muslim barbers
and Muslim shepherds, we cannot distinguish them. The government
will have a gigantic task before it to identify the beneficiaries," says
senior Muslim religious leader Moulana Abdul Kareem.
However, the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen and a section of the
Muslim clergy are opposed to the State government's idea. MIM MP
Asaduddin Owaisi has lodged a complaint with the chief minister
alleging that the government's move will divide the community on
"caste" lines. The All-India Muslim Personal Law Board has also
joined the issue.
The "warnings" of the Muslim clergy notwithstanding, the State
government is gearing up to implement the quota for Muslims from this
academic year. It is waiting for the BC Commission report. According
to sources in the minorities welfare department, once the Commission
report is ready, the government will make a formal announcement and
enact legislation declaring Muslims involved in certain trades as OBCs.