Debunking Myths Around Reservations for Dalit Muslims and Christians

A half-truth being peddled by a few Bahujan social media mercenaries with recent sympathies toward the Hindu Right is that Muslims are already availing four kinds of reservations – Backward Muslims in the OBC category, Adivasi Muslims in the ST category, Upper Caste (Ashraf) Muslims in EWS category, and government-funded Muslim minority institutions – and therefore including the Dalit Muslims (or Christians) in the SC category is wrong.

It is a half-truth because the same logic applies to other religious minorities. Statutorily, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists, Jain, and Zoroastrians (Parsis) have been notified as minority communities under Section 2 (c) of the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992. According to Article 30 (1) of the Indian Constitution, “All minorities, whether based on religion or language, shall have the right to establish and administer educational institutions of their choice,” and Article 30 (2) states that “The State shall not, in granting aid to educational institutions, discriminate against any educational institution on the ground that it is under the management of a minority, whether based on religion or language.”

So the religious minorities can establish and administer religious institutions and seek government aid. Let us take the case of the Sikhs. The Sikhs have historically established and administered educational institutions with government aid. For instance, the SGTB Khalsa College, affiliated with Delhi University, reserves 50% of the seats for the Sikh candidates. The College, being a Sikh Minority Institution, has no purview of reservation for SC/ST/OBC/EWS. In terms of the quota matrix, the upper caste Sikhs are accommodated in the EWS quota, the Backward Sikhs in the OBC quota, and the Dalit Sikhs in the SC quota, and if there are Adivasi Sikhs, they can, in principle, be included in the ST category.

If Sikhs (and Buddhists) can avail of both minority rights as a religious community and quota benefits owing to caste location then why should the same logic not be employed for Muslim and Christian minorities? Why should Muslims and Christians of Dalit origins be excluded from the SC category?

Khalid Anis Ansari is an Associate Professor of Sociology at Azim Premji University.

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