World | India
Report seeking 'new deal' for Muslims sparks row
A report that seeks to offer a better deal in jobs and education for Muslims in Kerala has kicked up a storm.
- By Akhel Mathew, Correspondent
- Published: 00:05 February 27, 2008
Thiruvananthapuram: A report that seeks to offer a better deal in jobs and education for Muslims in Kerala has kicked up a storm.
At the centre of the controversy is the recommendations of panel headed by Paloli Mohammad Kutty based on the report of the Sachar panel appointed by the federal government.
P.K. Narayana Panicker, the top leader of the Nair Service Society (NSS), an organisation representing the Nair community, has added fuel to the controversy.
Panicker's statements, which have not been in line with the suggestions of the report, raised a chorus of protests, following which it has been clarified that his remarks were not intended to fan communal tension.
He has clarified that the NSS general secretary meant that the recommendations of the report should be considered in the context of the conditions of different backward sections who have also been denied social justice.
Curiously, the Catholic community which has often befriended the NSS on issues like the proposed education reforms and a "second liberation struggle" to oust the communist government, has taken a different stand this time.
Syro Malabar church head Mar Varkey Vithayathil has said the church did not agree to all the stands NSS has taken. Vithayathil is also president of the Catholic Bishops Council of India.
The church has said the Muslim community more than any other was being denied social justice.
Vithayathil has said the recommendations to improve the lot of the Muslim community should be implemented. The stand has pleased the Communist Party of India-Marxist with party state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan welcoming the church statement.
A. Pookunju, council secretary of the Kerala Muslim Jamaat has demanded that Panicker withdraw his statements on the Sachar and Kutty committee reports. He said the statements could lead to social and communal tensions and upset peace in the state.
Taking a more diplomatic stand, Vellapalli Natesan, the general secretary of the Sree Narayana Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam that represents the Ezhava community, said the consideration that Muslims get must be extended to other backward communities as well.
He has pointed out that the Ezhavas that constituted 32 per cent of Kerala's population had only a negligible number of educational institutions compared to Christians and Nairs.
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