Click to play videoNew Delhi: Muslims are not a minority in Uttar Pradesh and must not receive any special favours—this order of the Allahabad High Court has drawn spark political reactions.
The court, while hearing a case filed by the Anjuman Madrasa Noorul Islam Dehra Kalans against the state of Uttar Pradesh, said the state government should treat Muslims in exactly the same manner as other communities. Expectedly, political parties who have always appealed to Muslims on the minority protection platform disagreed strongly.
“Muslims are a minority, not only in the context of the total population of the nation but in the state itself,” said Congress leader and Union Minister Kapil Sibal.
The court's order is based on consideration of the 1951 and 2001 census. As per the 2001 census, Muslims comprise 13.4 per cent of India's population and 18.5 per cent of UP's population.
The largest percentage of Muslims is in Kashmir, 67 per cent, followed by Assam 31 per cent, Bengal 25 per cent. The opposition BJP, which has always maintained that Musims are pampered by secular governments, said this judgement was a blow to minority appeasement.
“The minorities are those groups who are one per cent or a half a per cent—the are called minorities. People who form 10 per cent or more of the population in any sense,” said BJP MP V K Malhotra.
The word minority is used in Articles 29 and 30 of the Constitution but has not been defined. But coming as it does just 2 days before the first phase of crucial assembly elections in UP, the judgement might lead to an upswing in religious identity in the UP polls.
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