With eyes on 2014 polls, UPA steps up welfare projects for Muslims

In an attempt to sway maximum Muslim votes towards itself in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress-led United Progress Alliance is in the process of expediting policies that has the potential to appease the Muslim electorate and secure the community’s support for the ruling coalition. First among such moves was the initiation of 4.5 percent reservation for backward minorities in December 2011, whose fate remains undecided, as it waits for the Supreme Court verdict on its legal validity. “… the Centre has asked its top law officers and the law ministry to speedily move the top court to set up a Constitution bench, which will examine the government’s decision to create a 4.5% share for minorities within the 27% quota in government jobs and education for other backward classes (OBCs). The policy was struck down by the Andhra high court in May 2012"— a Hindustan Times report said. [caption id=“attachment_1019215” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Quota calculation. PTI[/caption] Although, the UPA is keeping its fingers crossed, the road ahead for it won’t be easy. _Firstpost e_ditor-in-chief, R Jagannathan, in his piece _Minority sub-quotas will make all reservations farcical_ on 4 June 2012, had said: “What we are staring at is two ridiculous possibilities: a further atomisation of quotas where both SC/ST and OBC quotas are further chopped up into sub-quotas for various sub-castes and religious minorities to benefit from. Or we could see the specific exclusion of castes from the quotas to ensure that the weakest sections of various castes benefit. “While we will have to wait and see what happens in the highest court, it is worth pointing out that this is the fourth time the Andhra High Court has struck down a minority quota for government jobs. It can’t be wrong four times in a row.” For now, the UPA prefers to move on undeterred. According to the Hindustan Times report, the Centre is planning to create an equal opportunities commission as recommended by the November 2006 Sachar panel to help the Muslim community. The Union minority affairs ministry under Minister K Rahman Khan is also mulling a bill to accommodate Wakf properties as public premises under the Public Premises Act. Citing a Rahman Khan-led parliamentary report, the Hindustan Times piece said that Wakf could generate over Rs 10,000 crore in potential revenue. If the UPA succeeds to go forward as it has wished for, the Muslim votes in the big battle of 2014 could be crucial game-changer for the struggling UPA.