We have reformed, come home, Congress tells minorities

Encouraged by the response to its political resolution on the Babri Masjid issue at last month's Calcutta convention, the Congress is drafting a plan to bring the minorities back to its fold.

Senior party leaders told Rediff On The NeT that the focus of this strategy would be promises to reserve jobs for the minorities, mainly dalit Christians and Muslims, if the Congress is returned to power in the next general election.

Congress president Sitaram Kesri has already set up a committee headed by Pranab Mukherjee to finalise the minority-friendly gameplan. "The salient features will be new avenues of education and employment opportunities for the minorities," Vayalar Ravi, a committee member and Kerala Congress leader disclosed.

Job reservations for economically backward dalit Christians and Muslims, he said, has been a long-standing demand and "the Congress is ready to take up their cause as the United Front has done little for the minorities in the country."

Kesri, who expressed his dissatisfaction over the Gujral government's functioning and hinted at a general election within a year in Ahmedabad on Sunday, has the Congress Working Committee's approval for his plan. Three of the 10 newly elected CWC members -- Ahmed Patel, Ghulam Nabi Azad and Tariq Anwar -- are Muslims; Kesri has also nominated three Christians -- A K Antony, Oscar Fernandes and Nagaland Chief Minister S C Jamir -- to the CWC.

Anwar, however, claims the strategy is "neither meant to appease the minorities nor is it intended to lure them as Congress votebanks."

"The Congress has stood behind the minorities all these years. Now the party is not in power, it does not mean we do not care for them. Our effort is not to win them back, but to help them move forward along with the party," Anwar, Kesri's political secretary, said.

Congress leaders believe the Muslim aversion to the party has changed after it virtually apologised for the December 6, 1992 demolition of the Babri Masjid through the political resolution at the Calcutta AICC session. In its resolution, the Congress regretted its inability to protect the controversial mosque at Ayodhya.

As welfare minister in the Narasimha Rao Cabinet, Kesri had aggressively championed the cause of job reservations for dalit Christians and Muslims. However, the plan was then opposed by the Bharatiya Janata Party, a sizeable section of the Janata Dal and the Communists.

Recently, however, Samajwadi Party president and Defence Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav demanded job reservation for Muslims, asking the government to amend the Constitution to facilitate this process.

Yadav says Muslims, many of whom are economically disdvantaged, deserve educational and job quotas given to backward caste Hindus.

Congress sources say Kesri is accelerating his pro-minority strategy as he has discovered an ally in Yadav. Both the Congress and Samajwadi Party are likely allies at the next general election.

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