New Delhi, India - A minority Sikh sect that fought the British and inspired Mahatma Gandhi’s non-cooperation movement now wants a share of the country’s quota cake.
Charanjit Singh Atwal, the deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha, has written to the Prime Minister asking the government to reserve seats in education and in the Rajya Sabha for the Namdhari community.
In one letter, Atwal has cited the sacrifices made by the community during the Raj era as the reason it should get 2 per cent seats in all colleges, universities and institutes of higher learning.
A separate letter to Manmohan Singh asks for some of the nominated seats in the Rajya Sabha to be set aside for the sect.
Atwal, an Akali Dal MP, is himself not a Namdhari but belongs to a Scheduled Caste.
His letters are written on behalf of the Kuka Martyrs Memorial Trust, a Ludhiana-based group of Namdharis — they are also referred to as Kukas — chaired by Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal.
The Namdhari community, Atwal has said in his letters, “boycotted” British educational institutions as a mark of protest against the colonial power. As most top educational institutions of the time were run by the British, the Namdharis suffered educationally, the MP from Ludhiana pointed out.
“We must recognise the sacrifices of our freedom fighters. Helping the Namdhari community improve its educational status is the least the country can do,” Atwal told The Telegraph over the phone.
Unlike other Sikhs, Namdharis believe the lineage of the gurus is still continuing. Members of the community wear a distinctive white turban horizontally across their foreheads and dress in white homespun cloth. Atwal said the community’s numbers had dwindled.
Religion-based quotas are forbidden under the Constitution, but the Prime Minister has not rejected Atwal’s proposal. Instead, he has forwarded the letters to the relevant government departments and informed the MP that he has received his plea.
“The only way a religious community can receive reservation is for it to be classified as a Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST) or one of the Other Backward Classes (OBCs),” a senior government official said.
But Atwal is unwilling to accept quotas for the Namdharis under either the SC or ST category. “And with the OBC quotas in education in limbo, the government must create a separate quota for the community,” Atwal said.
His demand has found support not just within the country but among Namdharis abroad as well.
“During the Raj era, our community had suffered a lot. No educational institutions were allowed in areas where we lived. It is time things are rectified. The reservations are very important,” said Kuldip Singh Ubhi, the general secretary of the Namdhari Sangat, Birmingham.