TN to provide separate reservation for Muslims,
Christians, Press Trust of India reports
Chennai, April 05, 2007
In the midst of a raging controversy over the
Supreme Court's stay on the 27 per cent reservation
for OBC students in elite educational institutions,
the Tamil Nadu government on Thursday announced
an 'exclusive reservation' for Christians and
Muslims in government services and educational
institutions.
Intervening during a debate on the demands of
grants for the minorities department, Chief
Minister M Karunanidhi told the state Assembly
that the government had accepted the recommendations
of the state Backward Classes Commission, headed
by Justice M Janardanam, retired judge of the
Madras high court, in this regard. He said the
commission, which had been asked to go into
the question, had stated that the report of
the Second Class Backward Commission, headed
by J A Ambashankar, which went into the number
of backward class people in the state, could
be the basis for the 'exclusive' reservation
for Christians and Muslims. The Ambashankar
Commission had studied the population of backward
class people among the Hindus, Christians and
Muslims.
The government will take legal steps to implement
the exclusive reservation for minorities once
the Supreme Court pronounced its verdict on
the 69 per cent reservations case, pending before
it, Karunanidhi said.
He said full details on the exclusive reservation
would be announced after consultations with
'friendly parties' of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.
Tracing the history of the social justice movement
and reservation in the state, Karunanidhi said
the famous 'communal GO of 1921', which had
sown the seeds of reservation, included that
Muslims and 'Indian Christians' enjoy the benefits
of reservation.
In the 1927 GO, Muslims and Christians were
provided with separate reservation on the basis
of 'rotation', he said.
The DMK government in 1973-74 included Urdu
speaking Lobbies and Tekkani Muslims in the
list of backward classes, Karunanidhi said.
Muslims and Christians had been demanding an
exclusive reservation in government services
and educational institutions for long and the
DMK, accepting their demand, in its election
manifesto for 2006 Assembly, had promised to
provide separate reservation for them, Karunanidhi
said.
In the state's budget last year, the government
had said it would take firm steps for reservation
for Muslims and Christians besides urging the
Centre to provide separate reservation for minorities,
he said.
The state had asked the state Backward Classes
Commission to go into the question of reservation
for minorities and had accepted its recommendations
in this regard, he said amidst thumbing of desks
by DMK, Congress, PMK and Left party MLAs.
