Playing Vote Bank Politics with Taxpayers Money: Mukherjee Budget 2011

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In India, when Government talks of “Minorities” it generally means Muslims.  The rest of the minorties don’t mean much.  There is a foundation created by the Government of India called Maulana Azad Education Foundation.  Its Introduction piously says:

The Foundation is a voluntary, non-political, non-profit making social service organization, established to promote education amongst educationally backward sections of the Society. It is fully funded by the Ministry of Minority Affairs, Govt. of India. The Hon’ble Minister of Minority Affairs is Ex-Officio President of the Foundation. It was registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 on 6th July 1989.

One would assume, all the minorities such as Jains, Buddhists, Sikhs, Christians etc would be represented by it.  There are many in each of these minorities’ populations who are educationally backward.  So, if the Government of India is funding an organization, specially for the minorities, one would assume that it would at least cater to every minority.  Right?  WRONG!

Here is a list of the Members:

Ex-Officio Members

  • Shri Salman Khurshid, Hon. Minister of Minority Affairs, Govt. of India
  • Shri Upendra Tripathy, Joint  Secretary, Ministry of Minority Affairs
  • Shri Najib Jung, Vice Chancellor, Jamia Millia Islamia
  • Prof. P.K. Abdul Azis,   Vice Chancellor, AMU
  • Secretary, Central Wakf Council

Nominated Members

  • Maulana Syed Ahmed Khizr Shah, Prof. Darul Uloom, Deoband
  • Smt. Jameela Ibrahim, Advocate
  • Shri Jafar Masood Hasani, Educationist (Nadva)
  • Dr. Mohd. Muslim, Ex. MLA  Rai Bareilly
  • Shri Abdul Majeed Aboobaker Parekh, Businessman
  • Maulana Wali Rehmani, Religious Scholar
  • Shri Sami Khatib, Industrialist
  • Shri Aziz Tankarvi, Editor, Gujarat Today
  • Shri Md. Naqi Malhotra, (Tat Wale)

Do you see the entire mix of India’s minorities here?  The organizations represented are Aligarh Muslim University, Jamia Milia Islamia, Darul Uloom-Deoband, Darul Uloom-Nadva – and lots of private businessmen.  Of course, as is the intent in using the exalted name of Maulana Azad; the organization has a lofty ideal.

to remove educational backwardness, and create awareness about the national ideals of JUSTICE, LIBERTY, EQUALITY AND FRATERNITY AND DEMOCRACY, SECULARISM and SOCIALISM

Pray, how would you do that?  Very simple, concentrate on the vote bank for the Government.  LIke, in Delhi state for example, for the year 2009-10, the Foundation provided Scholarships to 170 Muslim youth and One SIkh girl.  The rest of the minorities?  In Punjab, its Muslim students 55, Sikh students 28.  In UP, the proportion is Muslim 2500; Sikh 16; Christian 1, and Buddhists 1.

Why have a farce?  If the Government wanted to give largese to its vote banks and if its a fact that the rest of the minorities dont do much in terms of voting collectively, then why do the citizens of the country have to be fooled into taking their tax money and run the party affairs?

Why is this organization important?  Because, it has just gotten Rs. 200 crores in the Indian budget, courtesy Pranab Mukherjee.  In the largese being given to the educational institutions, are the other “regular’ institutes getting any Government money?  Yes, but who is getting is fairly interesting:

Indian Institute of Management, Kolkatta – Rs 20 crores
Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur: Rs 200 crores (One-time grant)
Wardha-based Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya – Kolkatta and Allahabad branches: Rs 10 crores.

Why Bengal?  Not because Pranab Mukherjee is a Bengali, silly!  But because Mamta Bannerjee has Congress by their nuts in that state.  Even the Communists can’t do much.  Congress wants to get as many seats in Bengal on their own as possible.  Even more importantly, the Bengal Assembly elections are around the corner!  So what better way to fund the campaign than using the tax payer’s money via the Indian Budget?

Isn’t it interesting that all the need for education this year is either for the Bengalis or for the the Muslims?

And, of course, I haven’t discussed the money being given to Aligarh Muslim University – which has been the fountainhead of secessionism and terrorism in India.  From the Pakistan Movement to Students Islamic Movement of India to Jamaat-e-Islami – all the movements and organizations, came out of Aligarh Muslim University.  It is overtly and Islamic University which does admit non-Muslims.

Behind the facade of the “tolerance” and Secularism, AMU has been the center of Intolerance, Secession and Jihad.   It hasn’t been really a year since Dr Sreenivas Siras, a Marathi professor at Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) was murdered by its students for being gay.  Of course, no one was ever caught.

Less than a year after that, we have the Indian Government rewarding a University, which has been in news for nothing but all the wrong things with free money!  And its not as if this intolerance has been a new phenomenon.  Its been the norm!  Let’s look at the students’ mindset in the 1960s:

In the 1960s, Syed Hamid Husain (1920-1985), a prominent Jamaat[-i-Islami] leader, visited AMU [Aligarh Muslim University]. A scion of a feudal family, Husain, before converting to the Jamaat, was a Communist, was Westernized, and was an avid filmgoer. Under the Jamaat’s influence, he resigned from his job with the British Army, considering it haram. Because he had a Western education, the Jamaat regarded him as its star preacher for AMU. In his lectures to students, Husain attacked secularism, nationalism, and democracy, presenting Islam as an alternative system based on submission to God, humanism and the sovereignty of God. Describing Husain’s alternative as “foolish” and “reactionary”, an agitated student asked Husain how an Islamic system was possible in India. Intizar, a retired AMU professor who was a student at the time and attending the lecture, told me that Husain replied, “Yes, it is [possible]. If Hindus accepted the three Islamic principles, India could become an Islamic system.” When asked if he meant that Hindus had to convert to Islam, he answered no. At that, Intizar and his friends laughed at Husain’s “foolishness” [be-vaqufi] and “irrationality” [pagalpan].

If you were reading the mainstream media in India, you would have never known the full extent of mischief by the Congress party to boost its election fortunes by catering to the Vote politics.  You would get something, but that would be hardly worth an intelligent look!

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