Onkareshwar Pandey finds the Rangnath Commission’s rejection of linguistic minorities illogical and absurd
The issue of reservation for minorities, especially Muslims, has created an uproar after the recent observation of the Supreme Court on Muslim reservation in Andhra Pradesh. Things have been turbulent ever since the Rangnath Mishra Commission submitted its report in May, 2007. In this melee, while the issue of religious minorities has come to gather spotlight, the issue of the linguistic minorities has been completely sidelined. The fact is even the Justice Rangnath Mishra panel had grossly ignored the issue of linguistic minorities in its report by saying, “In our opinion the concept of ‘backwardness’ is to be confined in its application to religious minorities as it has no relevance for the linguistic minorities.”
The commission is of the view that “The latter may be facing some other problems like discrimination and denial of constitutional rights in practice but no linguistic group may be regarded as backward by itself.” Asha Das, member secretary of the Commission, defends this view while talking to TSI. She said, “The term linguistic minority can determine the backwardness of a language and not backwardness of its people.” Therefore it further says, “We are not recommending any criterion for identifying ‘socially and economically backward classes’ among the linguistic minorities.”
“This is ridiculous,” says Uday Sinha, a senior journalist, who was in a panel of speakers in a seminar recently held in Delhi to discuss the commission’s report. “The development of any community is directly linked to the language. The reason of backwardness is linguistic and not religious. Religion does not define the economic status of the community,” he said. If a person is familiar with a developed language, he is exposed to the best education which is available in our country. An English-speaking person will have more opportunities than a person who is speaking Bhojpuri or Braj Bhasha, Mundari or Oraon. The literature and the technological education are imported only in English and not in other languages. Why to speak of Mundari or Bhojpuri, the same can be seen even with a person who knows only Hindi and does not know English.
“The Rangnath Mishra Commission forgot its limitations in its move to give blind support to provide reservations to religious minorities. This is unfortunate,” commented Prakash Javdekar, spokesperson, BJP, while talking to TSI on the issue. .
“This is absolutely wrong and far away from the ground realities,” says Neeraj Shekhar, MP from Baliya,UP. “The commission should have taken a view that the linguistic minorities are much more important to ascertain backwardness than the religious minorities as they comprise all religions, castes and creeds. For example, the Bhojpuri-speaking community of UP and Bihar are the most backward. This is why they are compelled to migrate to the various metro cities in search of jobs and livelihoods,” Neeraj added. “The Rangnath Commission’s report is not the Bible, Quran or Geeta which can be accepted as it is. The report is incomplete and needs to be reconsidered and discussed,” said Sanjay Nirupam, Congress MP from Mumbai.
The issue of reservation for minorities, especially Muslims, has created an uproar after the recent observation of the Supreme Court on Muslim reservation in Andhra Pradesh. Things have been turbulent ever since the Rangnath Mishra Commission submitted its report in May, 2007. In this melee, while the issue of religious minorities has come to gather spotlight, the issue of the linguistic minorities has been completely sidelined. The fact is even the Justice Rangnath Mishra panel had grossly ignored the issue of linguistic minorities in its report by saying, “In our opinion the concept of ‘backwardness’ is to be confined in its application to religious minorities as it has no relevance for the linguistic minorities.”
The commission is of the view that “The latter may be facing some other problems like discrimination and denial of constitutional rights in practice but no linguistic group may be regarded as backward by itself.” Asha Das, member secretary of the Commission, defends this view while talking to TSI. She said, “The term linguistic minority can determine the backwardness of a language and not backwardness of its people.” Therefore it further says, “We are not recommending any criterion for identifying ‘socially and economically backward classes’ among the linguistic minorities.”
“This is ridiculous,” says Uday Sinha, a senior journalist, who was in a panel of speakers in a seminar recently held in Delhi to discuss the commission’s report. “The development of any community is directly linked to the language. The reason of backwardness is linguistic and not religious. Religion does not define the economic status of the community,” he said. If a person is familiar with a developed language, he is exposed to the best education which is available in our country. An English-speaking person will have more opportunities than a person who is speaking Bhojpuri or Braj Bhasha, Mundari or Oraon. The literature and the technological education are imported only in English and not in other languages. Why to speak of Mundari or Bhojpuri, the same can be seen even with a person who knows only Hindi and does not know English.
“The Rangnath Mishra Commission forgot its limitations in its move to give blind support to provide reservations to religious minorities. This is unfortunate,” commented Prakash Javdekar, spokesperson, BJP, while talking to TSI on the issue. .
“This is absolutely wrong and far away from the ground realities,” says Neeraj Shekhar, MP from Baliya,UP. “The commission should have taken a view that the linguistic minorities are much more important to ascertain backwardness than the religious minorities as they comprise all religions, castes and creeds. For example, the Bhojpuri-speaking community of UP and Bihar are the most backward. This is why they are compelled to migrate to the various metro cities in search of jobs and livelihoods,” Neeraj added. “The Rangnath Commission’s report is not the Bible, Quran or Geeta which can be accepted as it is. The report is incomplete and needs to be reconsidered and discussed,” said Sanjay Nirupam, Congress MP from Mumbai.
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