[Reader-list] Pasmanda Intellectuals' Forum Questions...

[M Javed]

Dear Arshad
I have never figured out if I am a pasmanda or ashraf or ajlaf. How
does one find that out. I don't have a tag of a caste or sub-caste
with my name, nor have I ever been told by my parents or family about
it. And how do the selectors of a job like a VC find out if a
candidate is a pasmanda or ashraf. Apparently "Ansaris" are supposed
to be the ajlaf or pasmanda, but Hamid Ansari (our vice-president) and
so many other Ansaris have been among the elite of the Muslims for so
many generations. So how does it work out then.

Javed

On 6/13/09, arshad amanullah <arshad.mcrc at gmail.com> wrote:
> [With apologies for X-posting]
>
> An Open Letter to the President Ms. Pratibha Patil
>
>
> The last two decades in Indian democracy have witnessed wider
> acknowledgement and interrogation of the disproportionate hegemony of
> upper castes in the structures of power. Quite clearly such overt
> domination of a few elite oligarchic caste groups in decision making
> processes runs against the pluralist and democratic ambitions of the
> Indian Constitution. The persistence of such trends does not augur
> well for the future of this nation.
>
> The legitimacy of the category of caste in non-Hindu (minority)
> communities is now officially established. The inclusion of 82 Muslim
> caste groups in the OBC list of the Mandal Commission Report in 1990
> was a watershed event in this context. The presence of caste in Muslim
> community is also reaffirmed by the recent Sachhar Committee Report
> and the report of the Ranganath Mishra Commission on Linguistic
> Minorities.
>
> Moreover, apart from the official recognition there is a strong
> movement among the dalit/backward caste Muslims that is gaining ground
> in North India (especially UP and Bihar). The movement is called the
> ‘Pasmanda Movement’ and it is articulating the anxiety and anger of
> the Pasmanda Muslim sections over their blatant social exclusion. It
> must be borne in mind that the Pasmanda Muslims (dalit/backward caste
> Muslims; also called ajlaf and arzal) constitute about 75% of the
> Indian Muslim population (the remaining 25% is formed by the upper
> caste ashraf Muslims). The politics of numeric should itself suffice
> to suggest that their claims can not be taken lightly. The
> marginalisation of Pasmanda Muslims from state and community-controlle
> d institutions is an issue that perhaps needs to be urgently
> addressed.
>
> In this context, the recent reports about the selection process of the
> Vice-Chancellor (VC) of the Jamia Milia Islamiya University (JMI), New
> Delhi have once again disappointed the Pasmanda Muslim sections. In
> historical terms, ‘Muslim’ institutions like AMU and JMI have
> exhibited strong rigidity in accommodating persons from non-ashraf
> social locations as VC’s. If the claims of the Pasmanda Movement are
> true then not even a single VC in these institutions has been
> appointed from the Pasmanda Muslim communities since Independence (Mr.
> Hamid Ansari, the former VC of AMU who is usually taken to be a
> Pasmanda Muslim arguably comes from an ashraf family). Quite clearly
> the empanelment process of the Vice Chancellor in these two
> institutions is a strong testimony to such prejudices.
>
> Recently, a ‘Search Committee’ (comprising Justice Saghir Ahmed, Syed
> Hamid and Prof. Yashpal) constituted a panel of five persons for the
> Vice Chancellorship of JMI (see: The Indian Express, New Delhi
> edition, 12 June 2009) and submitted it to the President (visitor to
> the University). The panel includes Mr. Afzal Amanullah, Prof.
> Mushirul Hasan, Prof. Faizan Ahmad, Mr. Najeeb Jung and Mr. Mohd
> Shakeel Ahmad. While two members in the panel are academics, the rest
> are bureaucrats. Remarkably, neither the search committee nor the
> panel includes even a single name from non-ashraf Muslim communities!
>
> There are credible reports that an IAS officer from the UP cadre Mr.
> Anis Ansari, who also comes from a Pasmanda biradari, did offer his CV
> for the purpose. Moreover, having served as Secretary Agriculture and
> as Agricultural Production Controller (APC) of UP twice he did have
> the experience of managing and dealing with the affairs of higher
> education (including the prestigious Pantnagar Agriculture
> University). Besides, he has also served at the level of Additional
> Chief Secretary of UP and has held key positions in the departments of
> Rural Development, Industry and Urban Development etc. Yet his name
> was not deemed fit to be even mentioned in the panel of five. What is
> more remarkable is the fact that all the other bureaucrats favoured
> over him are either junior to him or had dissociated themselves from
> public service by taking voluntary retirement from the IAS way back
> (Mr. Najeeb Jung and Mr. Mohd Shakeel Ahmad). The selection process of
> the panel clearly underlines the strong and deeply entrenched
> prejudice against the Pasmanda Muslim communities. Afterall, what
> explains this anomaly and elision if not caste discrimination of the
> worst order?
>
> What is even more intriguing is that India, a nation of one billion
> people, is so deficient in human resources that a man in his 80’s, and
> with all the problems that old age brings, is allowed to play
> arbitrary and decisive roles in the affairs of ‘Muslim’ institutions
> in particular and the affairs of the Muslim community in general.
> Moreover, this particular person is highly distrusted by the Pasmanda
> sections of Muslims and his prejudices against a particular region are
> more than evident. He, in the capacity of AMU-VC, outrageously denied
> admissions to many students of Bihar. The aggregate of marks awarded
> by Bihar School Exam Board were supposed by him to be unduly inflated
> and hence he initiated the practice of deducting 5% marks from the
> aggregate while preparing the merit list for admissions to 11th
> standard in AMU.
>
> Let us reiterate that all these events are being monitored with
> anxious curiosity by the Pasmanda Muslim sections and all democratic
> citizens of this country. This is high time that the process of
> democratisation is initiated in ‘Muslim’ institutions and other
> structures of power. The Search Committee, the Executive Council and
> other such bodies of JMI, AMU et cetera must be made socially
> representative.
>
> In this respect, the appointment of the VC for JMI forms the acid test
> for Indian democracy and the commitment of the government of the day
> to the issues of social justice and social exclusion. The anger and
> frustration is brewing in Pasmanda Muslim communities over these
> repeated acts and instances of their structural marginalisation.
>
>  We, therefore, request the President Ms. Pratibha Patil to look into
> this matter and do the need-some. Moreover, we urge her to reinitiate
> the process of empanelment for the VC of JMI so as to ensure greater
> transparency and address the anomalies in the present panel
> convincingly. We sincerely hope that she will consider the sentiments
> of the huge Pasmanda Muslim masses before arriving at a suitable
> decision.
>
>
> 'Pasmanda Intellectuals' Forum, New Delhi
>
>
> ***The Pasmanda Intellectual’s Forum (PIF) is a small informal group
> of activists, journalists and intellectuals who deliberate on the
> issues concerning pasmanda and other subaltern sections like bahujans,
> gender, working classes, tribals and so on. They aspire for a plural
> and democratic India and strive to intervene in issues that take
> forward this agenda. Their overriding concern is to provide visibility
> to marginalized issues by articulating it and bringing it to the
> public sphere so that an informed debate can take place on the same.
> It does not have a formal hierarchical structure and is facilitated by
> a Coordinating Committee. Though it operates out of Delhi it has no
> spatial limitations and is open to all democratic citizens from any
> caste, creed, gender, class or religious location.
>
> At present the Coordinating Committee comprises Mr. Ashok Yadav
> (Patna), Mr. Noor Hasan Azad (Patna), Mohd. Hishamuddin (Patna), Mr.
> Raza Abbas (Aligarh), Dr. Mohd. Sajjad (Aligarh), Mr. Khalid Anis
> Ansari (New Delhi), Mr.Qasim Ansari (New Delhi), Mr. Naresh Kumar
> (Lucknow).***
> _________________________________________
> reader-list: an open discussion list on media and the city.
> Critiques & Collaborations
> To subscribe: send an email to reader-list-request at sarai.net with subscribe
> in the subject header.
> To unsubscribe: https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader-list
> List archive: &lt;https://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/>