Should Muslims in Maharashtra be given reservations in jobs and educational institutions? Those who support the idea emphasise the many socio-economic and educational disadvantages faced by the minority community. Those opposed to the idea often point out that the Constitution does not allow quotas based on religion.
Najma Heptulla, the union minister of minority affairs, has made it clear that she is among the latter: during a visit to Mumbai on the weekend, she spoke out strongly against reservations, claiming that Muslims should think of making their children “capable”, instead.
The Bharatiya Janata Party minister's comments in Mumbai were meant to encourage Muslims to think beyond reservation quotas, but one of her statements may now backfire on her.
Speaking at a meeting to members of the minority community, Heptulla said, “I am a woman and a Muslim, but I have risen to this rank without taking advantage of any quota.”
Privileged talk
It is indeed true that Heptulla needed no reservations to make it as a successful politician, first in the Congress and now in the BJP. She is among two Muslim faces in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet.
The 75-year-old minister from Bhopal has led a fairly comfortable life socially and economically, and rose in politics when she was already in her 40s, after several years of marriage to a well-connected husband, Akbarali Heptulla.
“Heptulla comes from a middle-class, well-respected family from Bhopal, and her father [Syed Yusuf Ali] was an honorary magistrate of Bhopal state under its nawab,” said Rasheed Kidwai, a political journalist who has covered the Congress for several years.
She also happens to be the grand-niece of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, a freedom fighter, Islamic scholar and the first education minister in independent India. (In fact in November, Heptulla’s ministry launched a skills training programme for youth named after him: the Maulana Azad National Academy for Skills).
Her husband, a well-to-do manpower consultant in Mumbai, had many political acquaintances, says Kidwai.
Heptulla has both a PhD in zoology from Vikram University in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh. Before launching her political career, she did social work and wrote for magazines as a freelancer.
Heptulla joined the Congress in 1980 and was elected as a Rajya Sabha member from Maharashtra that very year. It turned out to be one of six terms she served in the upper house of the Parliament so far, including two stints as its deputy chairman, from 19985 to ’86 and from 1988 to 2004.
In the Congress, Heptalla has been a general secretary, an official spokesperson and the prime minister’s special envoy on foreign visits.
In the middle of her political career, she grew close to the BJP and in 2000 was appointed as the head of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations by the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance. Heptulla formally joined the BJP in 2004 and won a Rajya Sabha seat from Rajasthan.
The disadvantaged
To Muslims who don’t share Heptulla’s relatively privileged background, her statement in Mumbai on Saturday felt like salt being rubbed into a wound.
“In the ghetto we live in, Muslims find it difficult to get admission in schools from outside the basti, and banks often refuse to give us loans,” said Khatun Shaikh, the Maharashtra convener of the Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan.
In fact, the 2013 Mahmoodur Rahman committee report on the condition of Muslims in Maharashtra reveals that one-fifth of Muslims in the state don’t have ration cards, they face discrimination while seeking employment, education and healthcare and that the average per capita income for 45% of working class Muslims in the state is less than Rs 500 a month. The report also recommends an 8% reservation for Muslims in all government quotas.
It is in this context that several Muslims groups in Maharashtra have demanded reservations in jobs and education. The Congress-NCP government, on its way out of Maharashtra, had granted the 5% quota to Muslims in May. But soon after winning the assembly elections in October, the BJP government led by Devendra Fadnavis reversed the decision.
In Mumbai, Najma Heptulla was merely echoing the Fadnavis government’s views on the subject. But her comment about her own rise to power has irked many in the community.
“Heptulla obviously wouldn’t have needed any quotas to reach her position, but when ordinary people like us don’t get basic amenities, why shouldn’t we ask for reservations?” said Shaikh.
Najma Heptulla, the union minister of minority affairs, has made it clear that she is among the latter: during a visit to Mumbai on the weekend, she spoke out strongly against reservations, claiming that Muslims should think of making their children “capable”, instead.
The Bharatiya Janata Party minister's comments in Mumbai were meant to encourage Muslims to think beyond reservation quotas, but one of her statements may now backfire on her.
Speaking at a meeting to members of the minority community, Heptulla said, “I am a woman and a Muslim, but I have risen to this rank without taking advantage of any quota.”
Privileged talk
It is indeed true that Heptulla needed no reservations to make it as a successful politician, first in the Congress and now in the BJP. She is among two Muslim faces in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet.
The 75-year-old minister from Bhopal has led a fairly comfortable life socially and economically, and rose in politics when she was already in her 40s, after several years of marriage to a well-connected husband, Akbarali Heptulla.
“Heptulla comes from a middle-class, well-respected family from Bhopal, and her father [Syed Yusuf Ali] was an honorary magistrate of Bhopal state under its nawab,” said Rasheed Kidwai, a political journalist who has covered the Congress for several years.
She also happens to be the grand-niece of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, a freedom fighter, Islamic scholar and the first education minister in independent India. (In fact in November, Heptulla’s ministry launched a skills training programme for youth named after him: the Maulana Azad National Academy for Skills).
Her husband, a well-to-do manpower consultant in Mumbai, had many political acquaintances, says Kidwai.
Heptulla has both a PhD in zoology from Vikram University in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh. Before launching her political career, she did social work and wrote for magazines as a freelancer.
Heptulla joined the Congress in 1980 and was elected as a Rajya Sabha member from Maharashtra that very year. It turned out to be one of six terms she served in the upper house of the Parliament so far, including two stints as its deputy chairman, from 19985 to ’86 and from 1988 to 2004.
In the Congress, Heptalla has been a general secretary, an official spokesperson and the prime minister’s special envoy on foreign visits.
In the middle of her political career, she grew close to the BJP and in 2000 was appointed as the head of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations by the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance. Heptulla formally joined the BJP in 2004 and won a Rajya Sabha seat from Rajasthan.
The disadvantaged
To Muslims who don’t share Heptulla’s relatively privileged background, her statement in Mumbai on Saturday felt like salt being rubbed into a wound.
“In the ghetto we live in, Muslims find it difficult to get admission in schools from outside the basti, and banks often refuse to give us loans,” said Khatun Shaikh, the Maharashtra convener of the Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan.
In fact, the 2013 Mahmoodur Rahman committee report on the condition of Muslims in Maharashtra reveals that one-fifth of Muslims in the state don’t have ration cards, they face discrimination while seeking employment, education and healthcare and that the average per capita income for 45% of working class Muslims in the state is less than Rs 500 a month. The report also recommends an 8% reservation for Muslims in all government quotas.
It is in this context that several Muslims groups in Maharashtra have demanded reservations in jobs and education. The Congress-NCP government, on its way out of Maharashtra, had granted the 5% quota to Muslims in May. But soon after winning the assembly elections in October, the BJP government led by Devendra Fadnavis reversed the decision.
In Mumbai, Najma Heptulla was merely echoing the Fadnavis government’s views on the subject. But her comment about her own rise to power has irked many in the community.
“Heptulla obviously wouldn’t have needed any quotas to reach her position, but when ordinary people like us don’t get basic amenities, why shouldn’t we ask for reservations?” said Shaikh.
Limited-time offer: Big stories, small price. Keep independent media alive. Become a Scroll member today!
Our journalism is for everyone. But you can get special privileges by buying an annual Scroll Membership. Sign up today!