Home > 2006 Issues > March 05, 2006

Editorial Say no to Sachar plan Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee informed Rajya Sabha on February 21, ?The armed forces are professional, apolitical, secular and the most disciplined force the country has today... we would not like to include (armed forces) in such a type of survey, (but) in case of other departments and ministries such a study will continue.? No. The Minister is either implying obfuscation or deliberately misleading. For, the government is speaking with a forked tongue. For instance, even as he tried to back off in the face of unprecedented angst in all quarters on the UPA?s communal agenda, the Defence Minister says, ?We are not apologetic of appointing a committee to look into economic, social, education and cultural condition of the single largest minority group.? He further accepted that Navy and Air Force did provide indicative and existing data about the number of Muslims based on civilian staff of these forces. The Minister?s statement is at variance with the claims made by the Chiefs of Navy and Air Force. The two Chiefs had on February 16 claimed that they had not provided any data to the government. So who is misleading? Justice Sachar justifying his action had insisted on getting this information collated because he was unable to differentiate between a public sector enterprise and the defence forces. The committee is mandated to collect data to identify areas for government intervention. The committee has been after numbers to crunch-particularly the number of Muslim proportion in public, private, state, central and educational sector. Is it not communalisation of the polity? The UPA has also been talking of communal representation in Legislatures and Parliament. For the first time in history, Muslim League is in central cabinet, and Congress has created a separate Ministry only for Muslims. If all this is not explicitly separatist agenda what else is it? The country is one in its resolve to end social and economic disparities at all levels. And this should envelop all segments of the society. Mahatma Gandhi fought his struggle for independence opposing separate electorate and the Communal Award. And the British used communal patronage. Should a national government stoop so cynically low as to patronise and create social schism in all walks of society? As the NDA convener George Fernandes cautioned, it's seditious, treacherous and invidious. The ruling coalition is eager to sustain the alarm. Championing communal agenda has become its vision statement. But the Muslims are more excited by the cartoon controversy and Indian vote against Iran in the IAEA. The Constitution does not provide for religion-based reservation in public service. The repeated reproach of the High Court and the Supreme Court on the Andhra Pradesh Muslim reservation should have chastened the Congress. The Allahabad High Court also took a similar view on the communal status of Aligarh University. The British tried to use religion to divide and rule. A national government is not an arbiter on religious spoils. It should work to unite the people as one nation. Post-1949, recruitment along caste, linguistic, religious lines were banned, but for some regiments. The armed forces have no quota for even Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. And there cannot be a communal reservation in the army. So, to say that the exercise is meant to identify areas for government intervention to improve the proportion of Muslims in the ?private and public sector employment? is wrong. The Indian army is not a public sector enterprise. Nor can it be a tool for political bargain. We cannot create divided loyalties in the armed forces. And that is why, it is the pride of India. On deployment in sensitive areas and during riots, their presence evokes confidence in the people. This reputation as a secular institution has ensured the defence forces a higher status. During the NDA rule, the army directed its members to eschew all symbols of religious identity, like sindoor, tilak, bangle, pendant, ring and talisman to further reinforce this image. So why can?t we leave the army alone? Or is the UPA bent on dividing the country again? The government?s seditious design to make the peddlers of vote-bank happy will only help communalise the polity and divide the armed forces. Once the Sachar committee submits its report, it will become an election plank and like in the case of Mandal report, the implementation of the recommendation will become a subject for competitive communal politics. This is a dangerous game capable of compromising the character of the most sacred of our national establishment. The clarification by the Defence Minister in Parliament is unsatisfactory. The best way to avoid the dangerous consequences of this ill-conceived action is to scrap the committee forthwith.

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