Caste, Reservations and Indian Muslims

Caste and reservations are sensitive issues in India. No wonder Abhishek Behl’s article, 'Reservations and the Media' evoked rather extreme reactions from the Chowkies. Some of the posts here, touched upon the issue of reservations for Muslims. My essay here attempts to deal with some points raised by posts on the discussion board. I have elsewhere dealt with the issue of social stratification among Muslims of India. Here, I once again attempt to raise, for a different set of readers, this rather contentious issue juxtaposed with the demand of reservations for Muslims.

Caste

Theologically Islam, Christianity, Buddhism and Sikhism are known to be egalitarian faiths. This was in contrast to Hinduism, where there was social stratification based on caste and discrimination in the form of untouchability was practised against individuals belonging to the lowest rung of this caste-based hierarchy, namely the Dalits (the groups recognised as ‘Scheduled Castes’ by the Constitution of India). The discrimination and exploitation faced by the dalits at the hands of the upper caste groups in the social set-up, made them convert to faiths like Islam, Christianity, Buddhism and Sikhism, which treated all its followers equally. Religious conversion was seen as the best means of escaping an oppressive and exploitative system. Sadly, such conversions didn’t altogether prove to be an ameliorative step. At a theoretical level the non-Hindu faiths mentioned above were equalitarian, but in practise the discrimination continued in different forms. However, I would like to restrict myself to a discussion on the discriminatory practises among the Muslims of India.

That their co-believers practise a form of caste discrimination would come as a surprise to most Muslims in the country. Majority of Indian Muslims are descendants of ‘untouchable’ and ‘low’ caste converts, with only a small minority tracing their origins to Arab, Iranian and Central Asian settlers. Muslims who claim foreign descent assert a superior status for themselves as ashraf or ‘noble’. Descendants of indigenous converts are, on the other hand, commonly referred to contemptuously as ajlaf or ‘base’ or ‘lowly’. Going by this classification, an overwhelming 75% of Muslim population of India would fall into the ajlaf category. Conversion to the egalitarian faith of Islam has not helped their cause. This is so because the ajlaf continue to be discriminated against by the Muslim upper caste, variously known as Shaikh, Sayyid, Pathan and Mughal. Such discriminatory practises are most visible in the northern states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. In fact incidents of backward or lower caste Muslims being denied entry for burial in graveyards by the upper caste Muslims, forcing the lower caste Muslims to bury their dead outside the graveyard have been reported from Bihar!

The ill-treatment meted out to the lower and backward caste Muslims has led to a movement for recognition of the lower caste Muslims or ‘dalit Muslims’ as Scheduled Castes, on par with the Scheduled Castes in the Hindu society. The leaders of this movement have demanded reservations for ‘dalit Muslims’ based on the concept of positive discrimination enshrined in Article 341 of the Indian Constitution, which authorises the President to declare certain castes as Scheduled Castes for special benefits like reservations in government jobs and academic institutions. This brings us to the issue of reservation for Muslims.

Reservation

The demand for providing Muslims with reservations in jobs and academic institutions has been doing the rounds for some time now. The reasons proffered for such a demand are based on statistics, which show that socially and economically, Muslims are below the dalits in Indian society and are grossly under-represented in government jobs and institutions of learning. Interestingly reservations for Muslims already exist in the southern states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka where Muslims are recognised as ‘backward classes’ for the purpose of reserving seats in government jobs and academic institutions. Therefore there was nothing new in the failed attempt made by the Congress government in Andhra Pradesh to reserve 5% seats for Muslims in the ‘backward classes’ category. However the point to be taken note of here is that the ‘creamy layer’ concept enforced in these states ensured that the benefits of reservation go to most needy among the Muslims and was never used by the second generation in the family.

While there is no denying the fact that the despicable custom of discrimination on the basis of a person’s birth is prevalent among the Muslims of India, demanding a separate identity, that of a ‘dalit Muslim’, and other benefits based on caste is no panacea for this iniquity. This move is fraught with great danger. Let us take a hypothetical situation where the system of caste-based reservation as followed in the case of dalit Hindus, is replicated within the Muslim community of India. . To begin with, castes that deserve to be categorised as ‘dalit Muslims’ would need to be identified. This process, in my opinion, would present a scenario where a set of Muslims, especially those coming from south India would either say that they are not ‘dalit Muslims’ or would express their inability to identify the caste they belong to for the simple reason that they don’t have a caste. Ultimately they would never have a chance of benefiting from caste-based reservations. Thus caste-based reservations will only end up providing another dimension to the existing divisions within the community, where you have ‘dalit Muslims’, ‘upper caste Muslims’, ‘plain Muslims’, etc., apart from your Shi’a, Sunni, Deobandi, Barelwi, Tableeghi and Jamaati.

In my opinion, caste and religion should have no role to play in the policy of affirmative action. As a matter of fact, any demand of blanket reservations for Muslims or for taking the whole community as ‘backward’ for the purpose of reservations, should be strongly opposed by one and all. There should be only one criterion for providing reservation and that should be the economic status of an individual here. Most socially discriminated groups are also economically backward, making their access to proper education and job opportunities rather limited. Such a criterion would also benefit the deserving among Muslims, while ensuring that the elite and financially sound groups in the community are prevented from usurping the benefits. The creamy layer concept which checks the empowered groups from unrightfully availing the benefits of reservation, should be rigorously implemented.

Conclusion

The bitter truth that the community needs to square up to is that caste stratification, howsoever blasphemous, is a reality of the Muslim society in India. This obnoxious practice cannot be wished away. The community has to set its face against it and the only way to fight this inhuman practice is direct action – a jihad – if I can use the word -against anyone practising, promoting or legitimising caste-based stratification. Individuals and organisations alike should intervene and undertake awareness programmes aimed at breaking through not just the primitive mindsets but also the social barriers created in the name of caste. The dichotomy between the extreme egalitarianism advocated by the Holy Qur’an and its practice by Muslims of India needs to be emphasised. Muslims of India have gained the dubious distinction of sustaining a highly prejudiced and devious system of social stratification. The community would do itself a great favour by purging this evil from within its character.