ON APRIL 14, PRIME MINISTER NARENDRA MODI, while participating in a rally in Hissar, Haryana, on the occasion of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar’s 135th birth anniversary claimed that Dr Ambedkar never envisaged reservation on the basis of religion. Reportedly, Prime Minister Modi said that, “To play politics, the Congress brought a law to give reservation on the basis of religion in government tenders. This is when Baba Saheb Ambedkar, in the Constitution, said that there should be no place for reservation on the basis of religion."
Modi has repeated this particular narrative recurrently in his speeches delivered in several parts of the country and during election campaigns as well. What he said in Hissar constituted a dogwhistle which effectively targeted minorities and notably, was also contrary to a proposal drawn out by Dr Ambedkar in the Constituent Assembly favouring reservation for minorities.
EWS quota is not based on Ambedkar’s vision
The fact that Baba Saheb Ambedkar advocated for reservation for minorities is hardly known. While Prime Minister Modi has repeatedly, and rather fictitiously stated that Dr Ambedkar was against reservation for minorities, would he be able able to explain how his government’s legislation providing for ten per cent reservation for Economically Weaker Sections (‘EWS’) of society is in tune with Dr Ambedkar’s vision? Did Dr Ambedkar, either in the Constituent Assembly or in any of its Committees, take a stand in favour of reservation for EWS?
Syama Prasad Mookerjee’s stand
Contrary to Prime Minister Modi’s claim that Dr Ambedkar was not in favour of reservation on the basis of religion, records reveal that he advocated for it in the sub-committees of the Constituent Assembly. He was not alone in doing so. Even Syama Prasad Mookerjee, a member of the Constituent Assembly, suggested reservation of seats for minorities. It may be mentioned that Mookerjee was the founder of Jan Sangh which preceded the formation of the Bharatiya Janata party. Prime Minister Modi who often invokes Syama Prasad Mookerjee with great reverence as an ideologue of Hindutva should at least pay heed to what he suggested.
Ambedkar and Mookerjee’s utterances
Now let us see the exact words uttered by Dr Ambedkar and Mookerjee in favour of the reservation for minorities. During April 21 and 22, 1947, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel chaired the meeting of the Advisory Committee and placed the report of the Fundamental Rights Committee for consideration. The proceedings of that meeting are available in pages 213 and 287 of the second volume of the publication “The Framing of India’s Constitution: Select Documents” edited by B. Shiva Rao.
Participating in the proceedings Dr Ambedkar, among others, flagged that none of the provisions in the fundamental rights section should “…prevent the Government prescribing a certain proportion of posts of public service for the minorities-whoever they may be”.
He proceeded to add that “Even among the members of the same minority there may be complaints of partiality, of provincial favouritism or personal favouritism. I have often heard the complaint that all the posts for the Muslims go to the Punjab Muslims and few to the Madrasi Muslim. Even among the minorities, we want equality of opportunity.”
Those words uttered by Dr Ambedkar during April 21 and 22, 1947, clearly contradict the claims of Prime Minister Modi that Dr Ambedkar did not express his intent for reservation for Muslims.
It is all the more revealing that on August 17, 1947 Syama Prasad Mookerjee put forth his desire for reservation for minorities in the legislature. He mentioned this in a ‘Memorandum on Minorities’ which he submitted to the Sub Committee on Minorities of the Constituent Assembly headed by Sardar Patel. In para 4 (a) of that memorandum he wrote,
“An adequate share for the minorities in the legislatures self-governing authorities should be secured by joint electorate and reservation of seats for recognised minorities. If any weightage is to be given it should be on a uniform basis in the Centre and in the provinces. In no Province should any weightage be given to the majority community nor minority be given less representation than is due to it on population basis. Reservation of seats should cease after twenty years or earlier, if communities concerned agree.”
(Source: The Framing of India's Constitution: Select Documents, Volume -2, edited by B Shiva Rao, p. 338).
Mookerjee was so sensitive to the concerns of minorities that he wanted that they should be consulted to ascertain their consent for taking any measure to withdraw reservation facilities for them.
It is a different matter that such ideas concerning reservation for minorities advocated by Dr Ambedkar and Syama Prasad Mookerjee were not finally enshrined in the Constitution. But they had expressed their intent for reservation for minorities and all that has been chronicled.
Against such irrefutable evidence Prime Minister Modi is spinning a false account which goes contrary to that intent so forcefully placed in the proceedings of the subcommittees of the Constituent Assembly. A prime minister propagating such statements in public domain, that too on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Dr Ambedkar, diminishes the high constitutional office he occupies.
When the country is celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Constitution and 135th birth anniversary of Dr Ambedkar, the prime minister must exercise restraint, and not participate in propagating unverified information that tarnishes the Constitution and Dr Ambedkar’s legacy. It is a legacy to which the rest of the world is tuned into for creating a world and society based on liberty, equality and fraternity.
