Jamaat-e-Islami Hind has demanded to extend the reservation benefits to Dalits, who converted to Christianity and Islam, besides Dalit Hindus, Buddhists, and Sikhs.
While speaking to media on Saturday, the Muslim body’s Vice President Prof. Mohammad Salim Engineer hoped the commission headed by the former Chief Justice of India and former chairperson of the NHRC, K G Balakrishnan would look into the issue, ensuring equal treatment for those Dalits who became Christians and Muslims.
“We hope our Dalit brothers and sisters will not be deprived of the benefits of reservation simply because they became Christians and Muslims,” he said.
He went on to say: “Under Article 341 of the Constitution, the President of India may ‘specify the castes, races or tribes or parts of or groups within castes, races or tribes which shall…be deemed to be Scheduled Castes’. Earlier this benefit was only confined to Dalit Hindus (1950) but later on, Sikhs were added to the list in 1956 and then Dalit Buddhists also were added in 1990.”
