A New Demand for Muslim Reservations in India

Abstract

against so-called affirmative action quotas for minorities, India has been broadening the categories of people eligible for preferential treatment. This paper will focus on the attempts of some Muslim leaders, abetted by Congress Party politicians seeking to recover their lost Muslim vote bank, to climb aboard the reservations bandwagon in the context of India's highly competitive electoral system. Communal, that is, religious, quotas are burdened by an especially dangerous history in 20th century India. On the argument that this "former ruling elite minority" had fallen behind the Hindu majority in accepting modem education, the British colonial authorities awarded Muslims reserved seats in legislatures in 1909, and in 1926 separate electorates and a 25% quota in civil service were provided to reflect their 24% of the population. There is good evidence that these gestures were actually intended to perpetuate British rule by the classic strategy of divide and rule, and separate electorates certainly encouraged communal appeals to voters of the minority community. Another fairly direct result can be traced to the Pakistan Resolution of 1940 and parti