Loan to Muslims not to Jains – Calcutta HC order to stop loans to minorities until further order

Discrimination is an ornament to appease one minority than others. Jain minority deprived off loans in West Bengal not being a Muslim!

Kolkata: Hon’ble Calcutta High Court ordered West Bengal Government in West Bengal Minorities Development and Finance Corporation (WBMFC) to be restrained from conferring any benefit on any person under the relevant scheme of ‘Term Loan Scheme for  the minorities of West Bengal’ as notified  July 16, 2010 pending disposal of the case of one Sanjib Kumar Jain vs WBMFC vide WP No. 10399(W) of 2012 .

In his landmark order on 3rd July 203, Justice Sanjib Banerjee asked the State respondents to file affidavit to clear their stand to exclude Jain communities from the state notification upon which the advertisement was published to give term loans to all six minority communities of West Bengal as Muslim, Christian, Buddhist, Sikh, Parsee and Jain.

It is alleged in the writ petition filed in Calcutta High Court that the petitioner, Sanjib Kumar Jain’s  prayer for sanction of term loan has been refused on the ground that he does not belong to Muslim community.

Sanjib, an unemployed youth from Lalgola, Murshidabad applied for a term loan of Rs 1 lac from West Bengal Minorities Development and Finance Corporation. On the merit of his application he was interviewed on 2nd February 2011 and instructed to arrange one person for loan security and the matching amount for drawing the loan.

Sanjib completed all the formalities but was being refused time and again by the authorities of  WBMFC and finally he was got a clue that one Muslim citizen of Murshidabad got the loan of Rs.66,500/- depriving his claim in the same period.

Being aggrieved Sanjib filed a writ petition bearing WP No. 10399 (W) of 2012 highlighting his case of deprivation as he is a Jain but not a Muslim.

 The allegation is rather serious inasmuch as none can be discriminated on the ground of religion ordinarily.

Actually, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists and Zoroastrians (Parsees) have been notified as minority communities under Section 2 (c) of the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992. As per Census 2001, the percentage of minorities in the country is about 18.4% of the total population of the country, of which Muslims are 13.4%; Christians 2.3%; Sikhs 1.9%, Buddhists 0.8% and Parsees 0.007%. But, the 0.4% Jains were not included in the Section 2 (c) of the NCMA, 1992 under a certain conspiracy. When all the census from 1951 (post independence) were conducted under a segregation of  Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains from Hindus, then why the minority status of the Jains are not conferred to them?

In 2007, Jains were included in the minority list of West Bengal through an important legislation. On 27th Sept, West Bengal government  accorded minority status to the Jain community in response to their long-pending demand.

“So far Muslim, Buddhist, Parsee, Christian and Sikh communities were included among minorities, now the Jains have been included,” the then Minority Affairs minister Abdus Sattar said in the floor of WB Assembly.

In the website of West Bengal Minorities Development and Finance Corporation, it is clearly stated that, “The Govt. of West Bengal has also notified Jain Community as a Minority Community but as this community is not on the Central government List, it can avail benefits of only those schemes which are undertaken out of the fund granted by the State Government.”

In the present case of sanction a loan upto Rs 1 lac comes under state purview and the loan upto Rs. 5.00 lacs needs approval of NMDFC of Central Govt. As such, the West Bengal State authority can arrange such funds for term loans etc (upto one lac) for Jains, when WB Govt are allocating huge funds for Imam/Muazzin honorarium etc from state revenue, even in an impugned manner.  So, the case of deprivation made upon Sanjib Kumar Jain is bad in law and a blatant violation of Rights to Equality. Moreover, Sanjib has been  discriminated for being a Jain and  not being a Muslim. This is very much dangerous to the entity of the secular texture of Indian Constitution.

As per source, the West Bengal are now trying to suppress various documents and orders for discarding the claim of the present petitioner and disown the status of Jains as minorities in West Bengal. This is alarming enough as none can be discriminated on the ground of religion ordinarily by appeasing others. The Muslim appeasement in West Bengal has no bound here and word ‘Minority’ has been equated with the word ‘Muslim’. Sanjib and other non-Muslim minorities are the victims of this serious situation pampered by one and only Mamata Banerjee (read Mamatz Banu Arjee), the CM, West Bengal.

Three pertinent questions come here for decision that 1. What is the criteria in India for being minority? When 13.4% Muslims (now touching 20%) in the country is considered as minority, why 0.7% Jains are not given minority Status? 2. While a Hon’ble Court in U.P.  questioned the minority status of 17% Muslims in Uttar Pradesh, then why a huge number of Muslim like 35% Muslims in West Bengal are given Minority status? and 3. In India, under the “Multi Sectoral Development Programme” 99 MCD, 338 Towns and 1228 CD Blocks have been declared as “Minority Concentration districts” ranging the status of lowest 17.63%  Muslims (Gulbarga, Aandhra Pradesh) to the highest 63.67% Muslims (Murshidabad, West Bengal).  There are over 1200 Blocks/Towns/MCD where Hindus are synchronized as minority maintaining the above parameter. Then why minority Hindus are not given facilities under MsDP there?

Such a thinking of appeasement by politics is a curse to Indian unity in diversity. Politics in India is empowering such a group of fanatics who does believe more in Sharia than Indian Constitution. It may pave another partition of India.

Now, all the attentions are attracted to a point whether Sanjib Kumar Jain will get the justice [next hearing in Sept 2013 in the Court of Justice Sanjib Banerjee] under a vigilant judiciary of Hon’ble Calcutta High Court, as he (the petitioner here) has been deprived of his claim of term loan from West Bengal Minorities Development and Finance Corporation for his birth in Jain minority community, not in a Muslim minority community.

Justice triumphs really when it is truth.

 

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