AIPMM Calls for Religion-Neutral SC Status for Dalit Muslims and Christians

The All India Pasmanda Muslim Mahaz (AIPMM) has urged a central commission to revise India's Scheduled Caste list to be religion-neutral, allowing Dalit Muslims and Christians to gain SC status. Led by Ali Anwar Ansari, they claim existing policies under-represent Pasmanda Muslims in various sectors despite their numerical strength.

The All India Pasmanda Muslim Mahaz (AIPMM) on Friday called for a central commission to amend India's Scheduled Caste list to be religion-neutral, thereby granting SC status to Dalit Muslims and Christians across the nation.

A delegation headed by Ali Anwar Ansari, former Rajya Sabha MP and AIPMM leader, met with the three-member commission led by former Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan to advocate for this change.

The delegation emphasized that Pasmanda Muslims, which include Backward, Dalit, and Adivasi Muslims, are notably under-represented in jobs, legislatures, and both government-run minority institutions and community-run Muslim organizations. They argued that the current SC list, as defined by the 1950 Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order and its amendments, is exclusionary and arbitrary.

(With inputs from agencies.)