Shahabuddin's Letter to Jethmalani, Minister of Law, 24 January, 2000

As promised, I reproduce below an extract from Para 80 [c] of the Supreme Court Judgement in the Inder Sawhney Case.

"That it is significant to notice that throughout his speech in the C.A., Dr. Ambedkar was using the word communities (and not castes) which expression includes not only the castes among the Hindus but several other groups. For example, Muslims as a whole were treated as a backward community in the princely state of Travancore ... The word 'community' is clearly wider that 'caste' and 'backward communities' meant not only the castes, wherever they may be found - but also other groups, classes and sections among the populace".

I also enclose the extract from the Notification by the Government of Karnataka on Reservation in which 'Muslims' as a community have been declared to be a Backward Class.

I hope you shall reconsider your stand in the light of the above and agree with me that the Muslim community, as a community, in a state or in the country as a whole, may be declared a Backward Class, if it is found to be so by a competent Commission on the basis of uniform parameters as applied to other groups.

May I also reiterate the fact that during the Freedom Movement the Congress objection was focussed on separate electorate and not on quotas for religious minorities. In fact the Congress itself demanded quotas for Hindus and Sikhs in Bengal and Punjab May I also request you to go through the Constituent Assembly Proceedings which will convince you that only one Muslim Member in the Minorities Sub-Committee of the Advisory Committee on Fundamental Rights etc., when the question was reopened, supported the withdrawal of reservation in legislatures and public employment for Muslims and that both Nehru and Patel promised fair and 'generous treatment'. How generous it turned out to be, you know very well.