Between 2008 and 2013 the Gujarat government did not allow a single Muslim student get the central government scholarship as recommended by the Sachar Committee report. Sachar report has become an albatross for Narendra Modi’s BJP By Soroor Ahmed, TwoCircles.net, BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi has the knack to mess up his own case by quoting data without applying his mind. Whether his speech-writer is to be blamed or he himself nobody can say with certainty but the truth is that by quoting the Sachar Committee report in a rally in the minority- concentrated Purnea district of Bihar he, instead of wooing the Muslims, ended up confusing himself and his own supporters. It appears that the rank and file of the Bharatiya Janata Party is not fully aware and trained what to do with the Sachar Committee report. When the Committee submitted its report in November 2006 the BJP strongly opposed its implementation. Its leaders accused the Manmohan Singh government of minority appeasement. Between 2008 and 2013 the Gujarat government did not allow a single Muslim student get the central government scholarship as recommended by the Sachar Committee report. But now the same party is saying something different. Trying to target his secular opponents Modi parroted the figures perhaps not knowing that the Sachar Committee was constituted in 2005 and submitted its report in November 2006. Perhaps he is not even aware that most of the data it quoted are from the 2001 Census. It could not be understood that in this 21st century world of information explosion what he wanted to prove to the audience. If he wanted to criticize the present government in Bihar it was a futile exercise as Nitish Kumar became the chief minister of the state on November 24, 2005. So how could he be held responsible for what happened in the state before he took over the charge of the state. Before criticizing the Nitish government he should know that for full seven and a half years the BJP too was in power in the state. In this long period the 11 BJP ministers always applauded the Nitish government in the state. If by making a comparison of figures of Gujarat and Bihar Modi wanted to take the credit for the better condition of Muslims in his state than he is totally wrong because it was in 2001 that he became the chief minister. The truth, however, is that coastal Gujarat has always been a developed state, which has hardly to do with the contributions of one or two chief ministers. Besides, why Muslims, the Hindus of Gujarat are much more developed than their counterparts in Bihar. Not only that the condition of Muslims in many other states are even better than that of Gujarat but no chief minister has ever taken any credit for it. No doubt Modi has learnt the art of learning by rote the figures. But herein lies the crux of his problem. Data quoted without applying one’s thought leads to nowhere. This is not the first time that he had made serious mistakes while quoting figures and data. Now the problem with the BJP is how to use Sachar Committee report. While joining the saffron party a senior RJD leader, Ram Kripal Yadav, on March 12 chose to quote from the same Sachar report to shed tears on the plight of the Muslims. Similarly, Ram Vilas Paswan, whose Lok Janshakti Party joined hands with the BJP, is repeatedly quoting the Sachar report to say that the condition of Muslims is worse than Dalits. (The fact is that Sachar has not made any such categorical statement.) When these leaders are asked by the media that the BJP had strongly opposed the implementation of Sachar report and Narendra Modi’s Gujarat has not implemented it they become speechless. The truth is that none of them has done any home-work before they started using Sachar report.
Posted on: Sat, 15 Mar 2014 08:49:48 +0000
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