The agitation by Marathas to get OBC status has received support from Muslim groups, with their leaders meeting Manoj Jarange Patil who is leading the protests. Muslim community groups have been seen providing food and other help to the protestors. The trustee of Mumbai's Juma Masjid, Shuaib Khatib, even asked the All India Khilafat Committee to invite Jarange Patil to lead the annual Eid-e-Milad procession on September 8. The Maratha protests have also revived demands for a 5% Muslim quota, though Muslim OBC groups have advised caution, saying that reservations on the basis of religion will be struck down by the courts.
Political Leaders Join the Agitation
Samajwadi Party leaders, including MLA Abu Asim Azmi and Yusuf Abrahani , AIMIM leader Imtiaz Jalil, were among those who met the Maratha leader at Azad Maidan in Mumbai, the headquarters of the latest phase of agitation in support of a Maratha share in the reservation pie. Azmi said he met Jarange Patil because the latter supported his view that Muslims should get 5% reservations in jobs and seats in educational institutions in the state. "Jarange Patil is a big leader and he has alway respected Muslims," said Azmi.
Revival of Muslim Quota Demand
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Around 50 Muslim groups feature in the state's OBC list. However, the community has been demanding an exclusive and additional reservation of 5% on religious lines. The revival of the Maratha quota agitation has reignited demands for a Muslim quota. Advocate Adil Khatri, who wrote to the Chief Minister, Devendra Fadnavis, demanding 5% reservation in education for Muslims in Maharashtra, said that Congress-NCP government in 2014 issued reservations of 16% for Marathas and 5% for Muslims in education and government jobs. The Bombay High Court stayed both quotas in public employment, but allowed the 5% Muslim educational quota to continue, citing severe backwardness indicators, said Khatri.
Legal Hurdles Cited by Experts
"The court noted that total reservations would exceed the 50% ceiling established by the Supreme Court in Indra Sawhney v. Union of India, pointing out that combined quotas for scheduled castes. scheduled tribes, OBC, and others, would reach some 73%," said Khatri, adding that in its observations on Muslim education reservation, the court said that data shows extreme backwardness and thus a necessity to draw socially and educationally backward Muslim youth into the mainstream secular education in the state.
Disagreement Among Muslim Leaders
Khatri said that despite the court allowing Muslim reservation in education, the BJP-Shiv Sena government chose not to convert the ordinance into legislation and allowed it to lapse by end of 2014. "A subsequent Government Resolution in March 2015 formally scrapped the 5%. Muslim reservation, effectively nullifying it despite the High Court order supporting it in education," said Khatri.
OBC Coverage Among Muslims
Muslim OBC groups, however, have cautioned their leaders from joining the clamour for more reservations. Shabbir Ansari, president of the All India Muslim OBC Organisation, asked whether the Muslim leaders who visited Jarange Patil understood the issue. "This is not politics; it is a Constitutional issue. Muslim leaders should not rush in everywhere without studying the subject. What will these leaders achieve by visiting Jarange Patil? They should know that reservation will not be made available along religious lines," said Ansari.
Commissions’ Recommendations
According to Ansari, more than 90% of the state's Muslim population is already covered by reservations under the OBC category. The Supreme Court has struck down reservations along religious lines in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. Just because Marathas may get it does not mean Muslims will," Ansari said, adding that it usca fallacy to believe that Muslims engaged in farming will get reservation because Marathas farmers can. farmers will not get.
Khatri disagreed, saying that a majority of Muslims have not been able to access OBC reservation because of lack of documents to prove their class. "Most families do have even other basic identity papers, forget OBC certificates," said Khatri.
Maratha Agitation as a Catalyst
Azmi said that the Ranganath Mishra and Sachar commissions recommended reservations for Muslims in general, noting that the community is socially and economically backward. "Would they give the recommendations if they thought it was not possible?," asked Azmi.
