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Parliament rocked on Muslim headcount in the Armed Forces |
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The controversial move to take a headcount of Muslims in the armed forces rocked both Houses of Parliament on Friday, Feb. 17, with the BJP staging a walkout in the Lok Sabha, the lower House, after an intense hour-long debate.
Encouraged by the support of not just its NDA partners but also CPI and Forward Bloc, the BJP launched a scathing attack on government for engaging in vote bank politics.
But Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee hit back. Ruling out any change in the character of the armed forces, he accused BJP of practising communalism.
CPI (M)’s Muhammad Salim, SP’s Ramgopal Yadav, PDP’s Mehbooba Mufti, BSP’s Ilyas Azmi and RJD’s Devendra Prasad Yadav supported the move. Outside the Houses, BJP made it clear that the states ruled by the party will not cooperate with the Sachar panel which has initiated the move for the headcount.
BJP’s B C Khanduri drawing upon his credentials as an ex-serviceman made an impassioned speech against the PMO-appointed Sachar panel’s move to count the Muslims in armed forces.
The hour-long impromptu discussion saw the Defence Minister seeking to defend the government. “Our armed forces are basically professional, apolitical, secular and most disciplined force...There is no question of compromising with the character of the Indian armed forces,” Mukherjee said.
Raising the issue during zero hour, Advani said government was sending “wrong signals” to the troops by the move, which was even objected to by the service chiefs. He said the move was fraught with dangerous implications and had come in for criticism from many a soldier.
A delegation of the NDA met President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam on Tuesday, Feb. 14, to seek his intervention to stop the survey on Muslims in the defence forces. The opposition also urged President Kalam to prevail upon the Government to secure the resignation of Election Commissioner Navin Chawla who has been accused of getting funds from Congress MPs for his trusts.
Speaking to newspersons later, NDA convener George Fernandes and BJP leader L.K. Advani said : “Both the Muslim headcount in Defence forces and Election Commissioner’s resignation are serious issues. The President is the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces. We told him that everybody is keen that poverty ends. It is an issue that needs to be handled with a non-discriminatory attitude. But to undertake an exercise to ascertain only from the Muslims their economic situation, their backwardness and what could be done for them is to communalize the issue for vote-bank politics.”
Advani said the Army has no religion. Selections in the Army are based on the ability to defend the country. Even the Army Chief has raised objections to this exercise. “We met the Supreme Commander and objected to it.”
PMO denial
Pushed on the backfoot by the storm generated by the Muslim headcount in the armed forces, both the Prime Minister’s Office and the high level committee headed by Justice Rajindar Sachar have denied that Muslim headcount in the armed forces is the objective of the socio-economic survey. The PMO said the committee had been constituted to “prepare a report on the social, economic and educational status of the Muslim community.”
Even as the Prime Minister’s Office sought to distance itself from the controversy, the Army came out to reiterate it was strongly opposed to any quota for any religious minority or social community in the forces. Asked about the controversial survey being conducted by the committee, Army Chief General J.J. Singh said it was a matter between the PMO and the Defence Ministry. However, he went on to add that recruitment in the Army was based on merit, irrespective of caste, creed, community or religion, and it should remain that way.
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