Hyderabad: India is the only country in
the world where Muslims despite being in minority can
profoundly claim that they have reaped the fruits of democracy
uninterruptedly for the last 60 years, prominent journalist
and columnist M J Akbar said here on Tuesday.
Delivering a lecture at Maulana Azad National Urdu
University, Department of Mass Communication and Journalism,
Akabar spoke at length on different aspects of status of Urdu
and Muslims in India.
He said reservation is the right of Muslims. When the
other backward and under privileged sections of the society
are being offered the reservations, why not the Muslims? he
asked.
Muslims nowadays are not willing to accept the so
called `Soft Secularism.` "If you vote out of fear then in
turn you will get fear only. You can not expect development in
return," he said. He appreciated the West Bengal government
for declaring 10 per cent reservations for Muslims and said
that Marxist government has done its homework well on this
front.
West Bengal government has clearly defined the
backwardness and removed the creamy layer from the purview of
reservations, he said. If the government is sincere and has
strong will then only reservations could be implemented, he
added.
Vice-Chancellor of the University Prof K R Iqbal Ahmed,
speaking on the topic `Urdu Media in 21st Century: Challenges
& Opportunities,` advised young journalists to become the
voice of downtrodden and the poor.
Describing Urdu as a sweet language which has the
unique ability of mixing with any other language, he said Urdu
was never an official language throughout its history. "Yet it
enjoys the popularity and the patronage of the masses even
today," he added.
PTI
