Even as the Left prepared a case for greater government involvement for empowerment of Muslims in the light of the Sachar panel report tabled in Parliament today, the CPI sang a different tune saying empowerment should cover special budgetary allocations and education plans. The CPI(M) has also spoken out against reservation on the basis of religion.

“We want adequate state support for Muslims and Dalits. But we do not want reservation,” CPI’s parliamentary party leader Gurudas Dasgupta said. Dasgupta said the Sachar Committee report had highlighted the “lamentable condition” of Muslims. “Indian secularism has not given its due to the first largest minority group in the country and this speaks of the failure of the country’s political system,” he said. His party’s prescription was to enable Muslims to rise above their present condition through special allocations, which he said the government should do “without fear of the BJP”.

Meanwhile, the CPI(M), while calling for empowerment of Muslims, built an elaborate defence of the West Bengal situation. “Much has appeared in the report on the situation of Muslims in West Bengal. The state has, compared to the all India situation, a proportionately higher percentage of Muslim population—25.20 per cent. Though in terms of literacy and such indicators, the status of Muslims is the same, if not higher than the all India average, in terms of employment in government jobs etc, their percentage is woefully lower than their proportion of population. The CPI(M)-led Left Front government in West Bengal has been conscious of this and has initiated over the years a number of programmes and initiatives,” the party said.

... contd.