Islam does not recognize caste. But the Muslim society in India did develop a hierarchical structure i.e. Ashraf, Ajlaf and Arzal and while all Muslims were equal before God, socially there was a taboo against inter-marriage and a resistance to social fraternisation. Also after conversion many groups continued to be occupied in their family profession except when it was considered impure or unacceptable such as pig-rearing. Thus, within the same caste group there appeared Hindu and Muslim segments. Of late, with the growing tendency towards Islamisation, some of these Muslim caste groups have become organized and given themselves Muslim nomenclatures, identifying and associating themselves with Islamic personalities. For example, the butchers designated themselves as Qureshi; the tailors as Idrisi, the bhishtis as Abbasi; the vegetable vendors as Rain, the barbers as Salmani, the carpenters and blacksmiths as Saifi. All these groups were listed among the OBCs. A few others have been listed as Scheduled Tribes, for example, in Lakshadweep and Kashmir.

The term Scheduled Caste was first used in the Government of India Act of 1935, which provided separate representation for the Untouchables whom Gandhiji called 'Harijans' and who were the subject of Gandhi-Ambedkar Pune Pact, a master-stroke by Gandhiji to keep the Untouchables within the Hindu fold and prevent their conversion to Islam or Christianity.

The Constitution of India provides for reservation in the Central and State Legislatures for the Scheduled Castes under Articles 330 and 332. Article 335 gives preferential treatment to the Scheduled Castes in public employment, consistently with the maintenance of efficiency of administration. Article 15(4) which enables the State to make special provisions for the advancement of any socially and educationally backward class of citizens and also for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes. Reservation in public employment is specifically covered by Article 16(4) of the Constitution, for any backward class of citizens, which are not adequately represented in the services under the State.

Article 341 of the Constitution empowers the President to, 'by public notification, specify the castes, races, tribes or parts of or groups within castes, races or tribes which shall for the purpose of this Constitution be deemed to be Scheduled Castes' in relation to a State or Union Territory. The Parliament has been empowered to modify the list by law, to include in, or exclude from, it any caste, race or tribe, etc. The Scheduled Caste Order, 1950 lays down that only a person who professes to be either Hindu or Sikh qualifies to belong to a Scheduled Caste. Therefore, a person who is non-Hindu/Sikh by birth, or who is Hindu or Sikh by birth but adopts any other religion, say, Islam or Christianity is automatically out. The Order was amended later to include Neo-Buddhists. The demand for inclusion of persons or groups which are Christian by birth or have become so by conversion, despite their descent from Hindu Scheduled Caste forefathers, has been resisted, although politically supported by many parties. Over the years, the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes have enjoyed, apart from special measure reservation in public employment and legislature for the extent of 15 per cent and 7.5 per cent respectively at the Central level and to a varying extent in various states depending upon their population.

Since 1950 several States have in stages also introduced reservation in public employment, but not in legislatures, for other socially and educationally backword classes, largely belonging to the 'Shudras' popularly known as the OBC's. Since there was no religious bar, on the basis of hereditary occupation or profession on parity with the corresponding Hindu castes or sub-castes, some Muslim sub-communities were also included in the list of Other Backward Classes'. They came to enjoy preferential treatment in public employment, development measures and welfare benefits within the OBC pool.

The Mandal Report, which was presented in 1980, identified a large number of Backward Muslim Sub-communities, state-wise. One may differ on the exact arithmetic but the Mandal Report presumed the proportion of Backward Classes among the Muslims to be the same as among the Hindus. The fact remains that conversion from Hinduism to Islam was not uniform throughout the Hindu caste structure. It was in fact much higher among the 'Shudras' and 'Achhuts' than among the 'Savarnan' Considering also that not more than 10 per cent of the total Muslim population of India are descendants of Muslims who came from outside and presuming that atleast 10 percent are descendants of the Savarna Hindus who embraced Islam, a good estimate of the proportion of Muslims who belong to the Backward Classes would be somewhere around 80 per cent, not 52 per cent as in the case of the Hindus. In this view of the matter the Muslims' share in the Mandal quota of 27 per cent should be 5 per cent and not 4 per cent as ordained in the Mandal Report.

After the implementation of Mandal Report in public employment, the Muslim community began pressing for a separate quota for the community as a whole on ground of educational and social backwardness.

Of late a small section of the Muslim community has been demanding the inclusion of the Backward Muslims in SC list.

This would require further amendment or the deletion of the religious requirement in the Order of 1950. However, it is obvious that only such Muslim Sub-communities which claim the same origin as a S.C. or have the same occupation or profession as a SC, may be included. Not all Muslim Backward Classes and certainly not all Muslims, even if the community, as a whole, is declared a Backward Class, can be categorized as SC's.

The only perceptible advantage in grouping Backward Muslims with the SC's is that reservation would go beyond public employment, education, development and welfare benefits to include legislatures. But this advantage is both illusory and politically impossible. Firstly, Muslim SC candidates in a SC constituency, unless the Muslims happen to form a majority, have no chance of getting elected. Secondly, their inclusion in the list of SC's will be resisted by those within, unless the quota was enhanced corresponding to the additional population covered i.e. about eight per cent. Thirdly, no prominent SC or ST leader has publicly expressed support for accepting a massive influx of Muslims without an additional quota. Fourthly, in the field of public employment over the last 50 years a creamy layer has developed among the Scheduled Castes and the Muslim candidates are not likely to be a match for their progeny just as other SC candidates are not.

The Muslim sub-communities which do not engage in the professions, which attracted untouchability, cannot be classed as SC. Minor sub-communities like the Halalkhors which qualify were included in the list of OBCs because of the Constitutional bar on their being included in the SC list. Together do not form even 0.1 per cent of the Muslim population. Since they cannot reasonably claim a separate Muslim SC quota, one does not see any advantage in being grouped with the SC's or any disadvantage in their being grouped with Muslim OBCs/Muslims.

To elicit emotional support of the Muslims, it is being argued that if such 'Muslim SC' communities, which follow the same profession as their Hindu counterparts, were not treated as SCs and therefore continued to be deprived of reservation benefits they might adopt Hinduism. I think this argument is far-fetched.

As for the other Muslim Backward Classes, one doubts whether any Muslim sub-community which is now organized through but the country in Jama'ats and Baradaris with Islamic designations, shall ever accept its being grouped with the SC's.

So far because of a deliberate misreading of the Constitution the OBC quota has been related to half the population, while in the case of the SC and the ST, their population gets full weightage. Thus, bracketted with the OBC's, the Muslim OBC quota will be limited to 5 per cent while bracketted with SC, they may get 10 per cent. It is quite possible that following the case of Tamil Nadu, the Parliament may strike down the arbitrary limit of 50 per cent and raise the OBC quota to match the total population of the social groups which have been found to be This would be much more scientific. The advantage will then disappear. Recsent even the basic facts for a proper such as population are not available. There no caste census since 1931 and, therefore, the proportion of each Muslim Backward Class within the National Muslim Population or within the corresponding National Backward Class Population is nothing more than a guesstimate

Today, Reservation in public employment, higher education and legislatures apart from development and welfare benefits is the most important aspiration and demand of the Muslim community.

The Muslim community at present appears to be divided on the modalities of reservation. The possible options are as follows:

1. Inclusion of Muslim BC's in the list of OBC's.

2. Inclusion of Muslim BC's in the list of OBC's, with a separate Sub-quota for them.

3. Inclusion of all Muslim BC's in the list of Scheduled Castes.

4. Inclusion of all Muslim BC's in the list of Scheduled Castes, with a separate sub-quota for them

5. Inclusion of Backward Muslims in the List of OBC's, of SC Muslims in the List of SC's and of Other Muslims in the List of Economically Backward Classes (as proposed).

6. Inclusion of Muslims as a community in the list of OBC's.

7. Inclusion of Muslims as a community in the list of OBC's, with a separate quota for them.

8. Inclusion of Muslims, as a community, in the list of OBC with separate Sub-quotas for Muslim BC's, Muslim SC's and Other Muslims.

9. Inclusion of Muslim as a community in the list of OBC's, with preferential safeguards for the sub- communities notified as BCs in the Muslim quota.

[Since ST's already include Muslim tribes, prominently in Lakshadweep and Jammu & Kashmir, some adjustment between the Muslim and the ST quotas may be possible, subject to the wishes of the Muslim ST's]

The essence of the problem is whether the Muslim community which is by any standards and according to any set of social and educational parameters a Backward Class should be treated as a single community or as a combination of four sets of sub-communities to be bracketted with the OBC's, the SC's and the ST's and the Others. To my mind, it is much more scientific that the Muslims have a separate quota of their own because in open competition with the relatively more advanced Hindu community they do not stand a chance of getting their due, whether as a single community or as a combination of four separate sets of sub-communities. This rules out Options 1, 3, 5 and 6. Options 2 & 4 do not cover all Muslims. The choice lies among 7, 8 and 9

We are passing through a phase when the solidarity of the SCs, the STs and the OBCs is showing signs of strain. Having liberated themselves from the yoke of the higher castes, the relatively less advanced OBC's, in each of these categories are unwilling to accept new masters, This has become explicit not only in North India where the MBCs (Most Backward Classes) want their own share but also in States like Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Soon a time will come when any social group which has a substantial population, say, one per cent either at the State or the Central level, will demand its own quota. Mini-groups may aggregate themselves to demand a quota or they may join any other kin group. The transformation of the present system of reservation into a more universal system is clearly on the cards.

The Muslims form a viable minority and must act unitedly in order to exert pressure on the system to concede their legitimate demand, despite inherent prejudice and inbuilt bias against them irrespective of caste or profession or class to which they may belong.

An appeal to the Muslim community to maintain its unity in the name of Islam will not work. One should recognize the Muslim BC's distrust of Other Muslims, which explains why they wish to be treated separately, in order to escape the more advanced Ashraf. This eliminates Option 7.

One should, therefore, be prepared either to accept separate sub-quotas for large Muslim sub-groups within the Muslim quota or give the Muslim BC's preferential access. In effect this would mean that the Muslim quota shall be  available to all Muslim BC candidates with minimum qualification and only the unutilised quota, if any, shall go to the Other Muslims. The National Convention on Reservation in 1994 had, after deep consideration, decided in favour of 9 and not 8.

If a separate Muslim quota is not conceded, there is relative advantage in including the Muslim community as a whole with the BC, presuming that full weightage in proportion to population is on the horizon, because of their higher quota and the smaller gap between the Muslim and the Hindu BC's level.

What is the motivation behind this new demand by a section of the Muslim community? Such demands, which aim at splitting the Muslim community and sowing discord within them and thus making it more difficult for them to mobilize themselves, agitate unitedly and exert necessary pressure on the system, have been inspired and are encouraged by the anti-Muslim forces, which are not inclined to be just to the Muslim Indians. Indeed, one suspects that among those who have inspired this futile and illogical campaign lurk some 'friends' and 'sympathizers' who habitually wear a secular mask and shed tears in public over our deprivation.

Politics is a zero-sum game, a brutal game. If 12% Muslims get their share, it is bound to cut into what others have. But when every identifiable social group is demanding its own quota, can the Muslim community be denied its due forever?

No minority group, anywhere in the world, can achieve its legitimate goals without solidarity and united action. The Muslim community must reject the proposition of fragmentation but apply the same principles of Social Justice as much within the Community as it demands for itself within the Nation.

New Delhi,

1st January, 1999

(SYED SHAHABUDDIN)