He said in the 1990s, a nine-member Constitution Bench of the apex court had upheld job reservation for OBCs, barring those in the creamy layer. “Now why is it going backward?” Karat asked.

Maintaining that the socio-economic status of Muslims was far behind other communities, Karat said while BJP has already begun a campaign on UPA’s “minority appeasement”, the Government should “not give in to any such pressure and justice must be done to the Muslims”. Karat said the convention would adopt a demand charter on the basis of Sachar Committee recommendations and present it to the government for action.

CPI(M) MP Mohd Salim explained the proposed demand charter to the gathering of mostly Muslim party leaders from different parts of the country.

Observing that the Sachar Committee had highlighted the deplorable socio-economic plight of the Muslims, he said issues of development, employment, equity, education and security were part of the CPI(M) demand charter for the advancement of Muslim community.