The Aligarh disturbances originated from an incident that took place on September 12, 1978
between the supporters of two Akharas of wrestlers, namely Shanti Kunj and Turriya Shah
on the issue .of the declaration of the district winner in a bout held in Khareshwar Mela,
near Aligarh City. Shanti Kunj is headed by a Hindu Khalifa and most of its members are
Hindus. On the other hand Turriya Shah is led by a Muslim Khalifa and the majority of its
members are Muslims.

On the night of 13/14th September, 1978, one Shri Sharma was assaulted by some Muslims.
His nephew was with him at the time of assault, but he was not attacked. On the same night
around 12.30 a Muslim boy going in a rickshaw was stabbed. In both the cases arrests were
made the same night. As it was suspected that these two incidents had a direct or indirect link
with the incident of Khareshwar Mela the district authorities called a meeting of a peace
committee next day i.e.14th September 1978 and also arranged a get-together of the leaders
of both the communities. At these meetings, the leaders of both the communities expressed
faith in each other and stated that the incidents of Khareshwar Mela had no communal
over-tones.

On the night of 15/16th September 1978, another Hindu namely Khacher Mal Jagdish Prasad
was stabbed allegedly by Muslims. After this incident, the strength of the PAC stationed in
Aligarh was increased and the district authorities took the following further precautions to
prevent the recurrence of such incidents.

(i) Preventive arrests of 248 Goondas (143 Hindus and 105 Muslims)
(ii) Strict observance of opening hours of commercial shops in the city.
(iii) Closing night cinema shows.
(iv) Checking and interrogation of persons moving late at night.

On the night of 3/4 October 1978, one shri Suresh Chandra sharma alias Bhoora was
stabbed allegedly by Muslims. The interrogation of Bhoora indicated that he had set up
a tea stall in Khareshwar Mela and it was alleged by Muslims that he had taken an
active part in throwing stones on them. Bhoora also stated that he was not on good terms
with one of the accused named Habib as the former had objected to his eve-teasing activities
at Laxmi Cinema.

After this incident, the district authorities banned two akharas and made preventive arrests
of undesirable characters. Amongst those arrested, one Shri Sri Krishan happened to be an
office-bearer of Congress(I), while another, Shri Jaipal was found to be a close associate
of Shri K.K. Navman, President of City Janta Party. A delegation of Cong(I) met the district
authorities and alleged that Shri Sri Kishan had been arrested on political considerations but
when they came to know that a close associate of the City Janata Party President had also
been arrested, they felt satisfied and went back.

The condition of Bhoora went on deteriorating and he died in the Civil hospital at 2.35 p.m.
the same day i.e.5th October, 1978. A Panchanama was being prepared by police officers
for sending the body for post mortem examination. Two Magistrates and two police officers
were present at the hospital. A number of armed policemen were also present and more
policemen were available nearby. However, a crowd of 30 or 40 Hindus collected at the spot
and prevented the body of Bhoora from being taker for the post mortem examination and
removed the body from the hospital. They carried the body in procession shouting slogans
such as 'Khoon Ka Badla Khoon Se Lenge' and instead of taking the body directly to Bhoora's
house through the shortest route, it was taken by a circuitous route passing through Muslim
localities. The procession was followed by the four officers mentioned above and also by a
number of armed policemen. No attempt seems to have been made by the officers or by the
police to stop the procession, although there was sufficient police force available along the
route of the procession. Meanwhile rioting seems to have broken out in certain areas of the
town. A number of shops and houses were burnt or looted. At this stage, police opened fire
in which one Muslim was killed at Phool Chauraha. The Commission found bullet marks on
the walls of houses, some of them situated deep inside the Muslim localities and also on the
walls inside the mosque and the wooden ceiling of the verendah of the mosque near Phool
Chauraha, indicating that firing was done either from the entrance of the mosque or after
entering the mosque. The Commission also found blood stains inside the houses of some
Muslims which indicated that the Muslims were shot while they were inside their houses.
On the same evening there was large scale arson and looting of Muslim houses at Manek
Chowk. It is also alleged that in this incident two Muslims were burnt to death and a number
of Muslims were fatally stabbed. It would appear that no effort was made by the police to
prevent these violent incidents.

On the night between 7th and 8th November, there were a number of incidents of stabbing
and bursting of fire-crackers. The Vice-Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University, who was
informed of these incidents, met the Divisional Commissioner Shri Tandon and requested
him to take necessary measures to control the situation. Shri Tandon at first denied that
there was any incident but later on 7 or 8 Muslims were found with stab injuries inside their
houses and they were removed to the Medical College Hospital. In spite of these incidents
during the night the authorities decided to relax the curfew from 9.00 a.m.on 8th November.
A large number of deputationists appearing before the Commission were of the view that
relaxation of curfew on 8th November was mainly responsible for the spate of violence that
erupted on that day.

After the stabbing and death of Bhoora, the extremely communal-minded section of the
Hindus appeared to have planned attacks on Muslims. Shri Krishna Kumar Navman,
President of the City Janata Party of Aligarh and his close associates, by all accounts,
seem to have played a very prominent role in these plans and their later execution. He was
reported by a number of persons to have been an active RSS worker in the past. Now, as a
prominent local Janata official, he seems to have been throwing his weight about and
influencing the local government officials. Many of the deputationists who were examined
by the Commission stated that the RSS was behind the planning of violence against the
Muslim community.

From Minorities Commission Report on Communal Disturbances In Aligarh on
Oct- Nov 1978.
 
 

                            Jamshedpur:RSS Hand

The chain of events unmistakably reveal the working of the minds of the Akharawalas and the
rigidity of the communally-minded Hindus. By the afternoon of the 10th of April (1979) it became
crystal clear that they were in no mood to agree to any route other than the one through Road
No.14 (a road passing through mainly Muslim areas).

Despite assurances to the local authorities to reconsider their decision about this matter, they
did not yield a bit. Their assurances...were mere pretentions...

Judged from the facts and circumstances... (the answer to the question of whether) the members
of the minority community were terribly afraid of the consequences of the intransigence of the
Akhara Samities who were said to be working under the influence of the RSS...the answer must
clearly be in the affirmative (pgs. 23,24)

After giving careful and serious consideration to all the materials that are on record, the
commission is of the view that the RSS, with the extensive organisation in Jamshedpur and
close links with the Jan Sangh and the Bhartiya Mazdoor Sangh, had a positive hand in
creating a climate which was most propitious for the outbreak of communal disturbances
(pg. 33).

From the Report of the Jitendra Narain Inquiry Commission on the communal riots
in Jamshedpur, April 1979.
 
 

                                                                Comment
                            A Shocking Indifference

In the days to come we shall assuredly hear a lot of Mrs. Gandhi's letter to her Cabinet
colleagues, published on May 12, for it represents only the opening salvo in a desperate
campaign to win back the alienated Muslim vote. That the Muslim League leaders stoogily
rushed to welcome it reflects only the clumsiness of the orchestration.

There is not one of the 15 points listed in that letter which has not been promised earlier
whether in the Congress (I) manifesto or the National Integration Council --special courts,
recruitment to public services, provisions, of education opportunities, etc. The truth is, as
even Syed Mir Qasim was constrained to  admit in a press interview in April, that "we have
not implemented our promises" made in the Congress (I) election manifesto in 1980. "These
were not vague or attractive promises. All these were concrete promises". When he made
these remarks, Syed Saheb could not have been unaware of the fact that in her well-publicised
letter to Mr. Shah Nawaz Khan on January 21, 1983, Mrs. Gandhi had claimed that "They have
been largely fulfilled or action taken to fulfill them by the Central Government. "If that be so,
why the anxiety now, pray ? There is a glaring contrast between the arrogant tone of that
letter and the soothing tone of the latest missive, written only four months later.

A survey of these years (1980-82) shows a shocking indifference to electoral pledges. The
Congress (I) promised to "strengthen and give statutory status to the Minorities Commission"
as well as to set up "a high power panel" to ascertain "if the benefits of various fiscal policies
of Governments, both Union and States, do really reach" the minorities and the other weaker
sections of society. If words mean anything these pledges implied the establishment of
independent bodies manned by independent people, not by old faithfuls. on May 10, 1980,
the "high power" panel was set up headed by Dr Seyid Muhammad with Mr. Khurshid Alam
Khan as Member  Secretary. The Chairman was soon appointed India's High Commissioner
in London and was succeeded by Dr Gopal Singh who immediately thereafter in a press
interview on October 10 "refuted the charge that the minorities, especially the Muslims and
the Harijans, had not benefitted from the Government's fiscal policies."
From "Mrs. Gandhi and the Muslims"; A.C. Noorani, Indian Express, Hay 26,1983
 

                           `We Kept Them Out'
Mr. K.F. Rustomji, a member of the National Police Commission and former Director of
the BSF (sajd) in June 1979:

"We suspected the Muslims, in turn (after Partition), derided them, kept them away from
the services. We would not allow them to develop trade; no licenses, no support, no funds.
They were considered unreliable.. steadily, the Muslims went down economically and socially,
while speeches were made about our secularism..."
From A.G. Noorani's 'What is 'Communalism'?' Opinion, Dec 28,1982
 

                                                    Employment
                        Government Must Lead Way
In considering the problem of employment of Muslims, as of many other segments of our
population, one is constrained by the lack of availability of detailed data. Indeed, one
particular  proposal, Which will be made in this paper more than once is that the Government
agencies must collect and make them available so that the dimensions of the problem can
be properly understood and steps to deal with it be considered with greater assurance.

As matters stand, it is widely believed that Muslims are not able to enter in anything like
proper numbers a whole range of categories of employment; and such fragmentary data as
some times becomes available (e.g. lists of successful candidates at administrative services
examinations, or at a less reliable level, lists of Indian Army POWs in the conflict with
Pakistan) tend to support such a belief. It is also held that this is due, in a measure, to silent,
concealed discrimination, (exercised no longer on the basis of official circulars such as the
celebrated circular of Mr. G.B. Pant's Government on recruitment to the UP police) by either
the communal attitude of mind of the individual recruiters or by the pressures of powerful,
entrenched castes, which tend to divide the spoils among themselves, leaving out the
remainder indifferently in the cold. These too are facts of life, though it is always easy to
exaggerate the case of discrimination, in the absence of any objective or quantitative checks.

Beyond the element of exclusion through discrimination, direct or indirect at the actual
point of recruitment, is an equally patent disadvantage which keeps Muslims from obtaining
a Share in employment commensurate with their share in the total population. This is
because of their educational and commercial backwardness compared to other segments
of the population.

In 1974, it was estimated that there were about 50,000 Muslim students in Indian Universities
and colleges. In that year (1973-74) the total number of university and college students in the
country according to the UGC ' s ( University Grants Commission) statistics was 2.23 million.

In other words, Muslim students approached barely a quarter of the number which should
have been theirs had the Muslims been represented in the institutions of higher learning in
proportion to their share of the total population of the country.

It is possible that the backwardness of Muslims is due in part to discriminatory practices
in admissions to educational institutions. There are, however, other factors too which tend
to explain this backwardness. In U.P. and other Hindi speaking areas, the Muslim middle
classes were severely depleted in the post 1947 phase, lasting two decades. There were
first, the migrations to Pakistan affecting in the main the Muslim educated strata;  secondly,
some sections dependent on zamindari tenures had their incomes reduced by the Zamindari
Abolition Acts, being less able to subvert the provisions than others similarly placed; and,
finally, the abolition of Urdu as a language of administration and education, which adversely
affected that very portion of the middle classes among Muslims which looked to employment
at clerical levels, in lower Government service or in educational institutions. All these factors
greatly pulled down the numbers of Muslims in educational institutions. Once this happened,
a vicious cycle set in. The fewer the Muslims who graduated, the smaller the number who
would get into whit-collar employment jobs; and smaller still the number who could afford to
send their children to schools and institutions of higher learning.

The rather lowly representation of Muslims in the Indian business world is also of some
significance, inasmuch as it indicates that the expensive education given in high-quality
institutions (public schools and the like) is still less available to Muslims. Here again an
invidious cycle sets in, since firms tend to prefer the Public School and IIT products (and any
decision purely on merit must tend to give preference to those who come through institutions
providing more intensive instruction) and Muslims fall behind more and more in this area.

It is a perfectly valid thesis that the social structure of India today is a scandal, and that the
salvation of Muslims can be found only in the overthrow of the present conditions and the
formation of a socialist society in which the present points of control of power and wealth
would be irrelevant; one would then set about , dealing fairly and justly with all the various
elements composing. the people of India.

However, it cannot surely mean that we can leave the present problems of Muslims
unattended till the great day comes. One has to remember that solving certain problems
of Muslims as a minority does not mean that Muslims can be liberated from the hardships
which befall them as wage-earners or peasants; such liberation is for the social revolution
of the future. At present, one can speak only of the mitigation of the excessive hardships
and disadvantages that they suffer as Muslims, and it is to this end that practical ; means
may still be formulated within the framework of the country's existing regime. It is best to
remember that several countries have dealt with their minority problems fairly successfully
within quite unabashedly bourgeois limits.

In formulating a positive public policy towards employment of Muslims, two employment
sectors need to be distinguished, namely (a) the large number of manual jobs, not requiring
any school, higher or technical education; and (b) those of higher levels requiring technical
and educational qualifications. I am overlooking the problem of rural and agricultural
employment, which is largely a matter of land-control and must depend on radical measures
of land reform.

It is, of course, the former category (a) which matters to the large majority of Muslims.
This sector in turn needs to be considered in two parts; (1) employment in Government
services, and public sector undertakings and (2) private employment. The suggestions as
to what measures and policies need to be adopted in respect of both now follow:

The Government and the public sector must, first of all, themselves appear as the model
employers. In the unskilled jobs, the alleged Muslim backwardness should not count. Here
the Muslims ought to be represented according to their proportion in the population because no
qualifications are involved. I am not arguing that there must be a constitutional and legislative
reservation, as exists for Scheduled Castes and Tribes. What can be done is simply to lay
down guidelines for recruitment of Muslims (and other minorities) to manual and class-IV
posts according to their population in well-designated regions, and to ensure that these levels
be maintained in actual recruitment. Full data must be provided to Parliament and the State
Assemblies by the various ministries and authorities of the Union and State Governments so
as to ensure that the guidelines are being met in practice.

As for the private sector, it is pertinent to refer to the two major achievements of the
Civil Rights movement in the United States in ensuring fair practices in employment of
the Black and other members of other minorities.

There has been established by executive order an office of Federal Contract Compliance
within the US Department of Labour. All contracts entered into by the US Federal
Government have a fair employment clause, which prohibits the contracting supplier as
well as his suppliers from practising any discrimination in their employment policies. This
is ensured by checking whether the minorities are represented on the labour rolls of these
companies in proportion to their relative populations in the areas concerned. Since the
number of large companies directly or indirectly involved in federal contracts in the US is
very large, this measure has been of considerable effect in forcing the Big Business
corporations to recruit large numbers of Afro-Americans, Hispanics and others in order to
meet the fair employment criteria.

For companies outside the federal contracts system, the Equal Economic Opportunities
Act, 1964, created the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission (EEOC) which is
intended to check discrimination in employment based on race, colour, religion, sex or
national origin. The Commission receives complaints of discrimination, which the Act has
made a federal offence. If after an investigation, the EEDC finds substance in the charge,
it is obliged to institute a kind of conciliation machinery. If this is unsuccessful the EEDC
brings a suit against the employer in a Federal Court.

These are measures which our Government may do well to emulate. There is no reason
why a law against discrimination could not be applied, in the first instance, to all companies
employing more than 100 persons. Already the 'Provident Funds' of the employees of all
firms with more than 10 employees each are placed with P.F. Commissioners, and the
muster rolls are open to inspection by Factory Inspectors. A period could be fixed within
which the firms could reform their recruitment policies; more stringent obligations could be
set on those that wish to apply for licenses or government contracts. After a particular period,
the continuance of discrimination could be deemed an offence, to be dealt with by tribunals on
the lines of Labour Tribunals.

The question of employment in the higher jobs, where technical and educational qualifications
are required, is more complex. There is no doubt that positive discrimination wherever it exists
must be put an end to and the best way is to go on enlarging the area of recruitment to such
posts through objective tests as in the Union Governments Subordinate Services Examinations.
These could be extended to cover time posts like those of Secondary School teachers, posts
in public sector enterprises, etc.

Insofar as the recruitment of Muslims has been retarded by positive discrimination, such
measures should reduce their disadvantage. But it cannot conceivably bring their numbers to
anything in excess of the proportion currently borne by Muslim students to the total student
strength in universities and colleges. They would still remain very far behind what is
commensurate with their actual numbers in the general population.

A simple answer to this would be reservation in higher jobs or, at least, a system of guidelines
of the kind I have suggested for the unskilled sector. It seems to me, however, that such a
solution is not likely to be practical. The alternative is the nationally sounder one of remedying
the Muslim backwardness in education.

In many states, schools and colleges are left to private enterprise, to be founded anywhere
the enterpreneurs wished. This leaves large locations unserved. This should be corrected.
Schools and colleges need to be established and sited with the purpose of catering to Muslim
population. Wherever these have been left out in the school and college maps where the
enrollment of Muslim students in existing schools and colleges is exceptionally low, the
educational authorities must inquire into the cause and require administrators to take positive
measures to increase Muslim enrollment. Particular attention has to be paid to the education
of Muslim girls and women, who are particularly hurt by the traditional insistence on their
seclusion. Figures of Muslim enrollment should be, published so that the actual position be
J known to all; and a moral pressure be maintained to improve it.

A proper policy towards Urdu must also be apart of any effort to improve the educational
status of Muslims. Though for large numbers of Muslims in U.P. Hindi is now the only language
they can read and write, it is still true that Urdu remains for most Muslims the language of the
home, and I therefore the most natural one to serve as a medium  instruction.
 

It is measures such as these that should go a long way to enlarge the educational base among
Muslims; from there, given discrimination free entry points, the recruitment of Muslims to higher
jobs should expand proportionately.

The process would be greatly helped, of course, by the internal growth of a movement towards
modern and scientific education among Muslims. The traditional opposition to women's rights
(in the name of the so-called Muslim Personal Law) and to progressive ideas in general is
certainly not conducive to the development of a secular, national spirit among Muslims. The
sooner this is recognised by all the better.

In this note, I have repeatedly stressed the collection of information as to the proportion of
Muslims in the labour force government services, educational institutions etc. Owing to their
Arabic and Persian names, Muslims are usually not difficult to identify once the names are
entered anywhere. Before more refined methods are developed, collections of Government
and private Muster-rolls, the Provident Fund Commissioners' records and enrollment registers
of educational institutions, can be used, and with computer facilities available, the data can
easily be stored and analysed. I would suggest  that the Minorities Commission would be the
best agency to collect and monitor such data and issue periodic findings. Not only would these
be helpful to sincere  policy-makers, but would also help creating a proper public opinion. For
clearly it is the people of India as a whole who are going to be the arbiters in the matter; and
for them to make a just and humane decision, they need. to be informed.

Irfan Habib : Proposals For A Fair Employment Policy With Special Reference To
 

                                                    Opportunities
                        I nadequately Represented

It is often assumed that Urdu is the language of the Muslims in India. It should be
remembered that all the Urdu-speaking people in India are not followers of Islam. It is
equally important to remember that Urdu is not the mother-tongue of all the Muslims in
our country. For instance, according to the census of 1971, there were 61,418,269 Muslims
in India while the number of Urdu-speaking people was 23,323,047. It is evident that in 1971,
more than 50% of the Muslims in India had a mother-tongue other than Urdu.

The census reports also revealed that nearly half of the total number of the Urdu-speaking
people in India reside only in two States of the Indian Union, namely, Ut tar Pradesh and
Bihar.

In 1947, the Muslims constituted more than a quarter of undivided India's total population.
As a result of the Partition, their number was drastically reduced from nearly 95 million to
32 million. However, in the twenty-four years after the division of the country into two
independent states of India and Pakistan, the Muslim population in India nearly doubled for,
according to the Census of 1971, it was a little more than 61 million. Thus, the Muslims
constituted 11.21% of India's population in 1971.

Though the Muslims constitute the second largest religion in our country, they are in a
majority only in one state ( Jammu and Kashmir) and one Union Territory (Lakshadweep)
out of 22 states and 9 Union Territories in the Indian Union. They enjoy the status of a
dominant majority only in 9 out of 356 districts in India (Anantnag, Baramula, Doda,
Lakshadweep, Mallapuram, Murshidabad, Punch, Rajauri and srinagar). They form more
than a quarter to one-half of the total population in 12 districts. The total number of districts
in which the Muslim population is more than 20% does not exceed forty. This means that
it is only in these forty districts that the Muslims can influence the political process in
general and the electoral process in particular.
 

                                                                Letters
                                Seeking Modernism

Sir, -The Indian Muslim is the ultimate tragedy of partition.  One out of every eight
Indians is a Muslim.  With the exception of a thin upper crust, the Indian Muslim
lives in abject poverty and squalor.  There is hardly a Muslim middle class.
Statistics reveal that Muslims are way behind even their Dalit brothers in
economic and educational terms.

The Muslims elite is usually afraid about any linkage with Muslim mass.  Political
parties tend to view Muslims as a mere vote bank to be encashed at election time,
and then quietly forgotten until the next election.

The Indian Muslim is desperate to move into the twentieth century.  He seeks
modernism that is compatible with Islam.  He is not interested in such subjects as
Aligharh or the conversion of Dalits into Islam.  He want to improve his socio-economic
status.
                                                                                                Dr.J.S.Bandukwala.
                                                                            The Times of India, April 13, 1983.

Sir,- Dr.  J, S  Bandukwala's letter somehow gives one the impression that Indian
Muslim of today is nothing but a helpless vegetable, which he is not.

What is basically an internal problem, is something really more serious. The Bohras,
the khoJas and the Memons, who  are within the frame of the Islamic community
(having been converted at various stages en masse to Islam) and who enjoy power
and wealth, have shut themselves off from the general mass of the Muslim community
and who do not, perhaps as a rule, offer the meanest economic opportunity to their
own brethren belonging to the rank and the file of the community.  This
intra-communilism in Muslim society has placed a serious brake on the progress of
Indian Muslims, particularly in Gujarat and Maharashtra.
                                                                                                       W.M. Shaikh.
                                                                           TheTimes of India, May 25, 1983.

Sir, -Mr. W.M. Shaikh in attempting to take a dispassionate look at the problems
of Indian Muslims ( April 23/24 ) has erred on the side of being overly complacent
and simplistic.  Yes, economic competition has become increasingly sharp
but to say that all communal riots stem from that is too sweeping a conclusion.
The problems of the Indian Muslims are both of the heart opportunities, jobs and the
means of earning a decent livelihood the Muslim in India is cornered individual.
He struggles incessantly but gets nowhere because both power and resources are
in the hands of parochial individuals.

At the level of physical existence, there is the suffocating mental siege that
Muslims are being subjected to.  National programmes and functions begin with a
distinctly Hindu symbolism.  Is the state not secular ?  Why should Hindu
practices and customs be projected as national customs?
                                                                                                    Hassan Aly
                                                                      The Times of Inida, May 25,1983
 
 
 

                                Muslims In The Central Secretariat(1971)
 

                                                                Total No.                         Total No. of
                                                                    of                                   Muslim
                                                                Officials                             Officials

    Central Secretariat Service:

1. Selection Grade I                                       140                                    02

2. Grade I                                                     395                                     05

3. Section Officers                                      1666                                     12

4. Assistants                                              4507                                     19
 

    Central Secretariat Stenographers:

1. Selection Grade                                        130                                     Nil

2. Grade I                                                     195                                    Nil

3. Grade II                                                   1954                                    07

4. Grade III                                                  1326                                    01
 

    Central Secretariat Clerical Services:

1. Upper Divisions Clerks                             2511                                    09

2. Lower Division Clerks                               6585                                    30

3. Class IV                                                 5381                                    39

* Opportunities cont'd
From " Muslims And Scheduled Castes Since Independence" by Dr. Y.D. Phadke,
Lala Lajpatrai Memorial Lecture Series (No. 6), 1977-78
 

Factsheet aims at providing information on issues which are socially
relevant.  The need for such a venture is emphaissd by biased reportage
of a large section of the media whose coverage on several subjects is
either non-existent or one-sided.  Factsheet is a collective venture,
sponsored by the Centre for Education and Documentation.  It seeks
to enlist the help of journalists, lawyers, students, activists and
professionals who feel concerned about this situation and want
to contribute towards changing it.

Address Correspondence to:
FACTSHEET COLLECTIVE,
C/o.Centre for Education and Documentation,
3, Suleman Chambers, 4 Battery Street, Bombay--400 039