New Delhi (AsiaNews) – Muslims in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh are no longer a minority because they are much larger than any of the other minorities, a Allahabad High Court judge ruled on April 3 just a few days before the first round in the state assembly elections, seen by many as crucial test for the whole country.

“Muslims have ceased to be a religious minority in Uttar Pradesh on consideration of the material on record, which includes various census reports . . . of 1951 and 2001,” Justice S.N. Srivastava said. The community now makes up 18.5 per cent of the state’s population compared to 8 per cent for Christians and just fewer than 10 per cent for Buddhists. Most state residents are Hindus.

Under Indian law minority status gives beneficiaries a variety of public subsidies and education benefits.

The ruling came in response to a petition by a Ghazipur Madrassa challenging out-of-turn grants to other minority institutions. The court rejected the plea and asked the state to treat Muslim institutions on a par with non-minority institutions in the matter of grants.

Lawyer Zafaryab Jilani, a member of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, said that the last ruling by the Supreme Court on minorities on August 12, 2005, left it up to governments to classify minorities, holding however that any religious or linguistic group that made up less than half a state’s population could be regarded as a minority. Furthermore, according to the 1992 National Commission for Minorities Act, it is up to the central government to decide how minority status can be granted.

For this reason, many experts expect the court ruling to be overturned on appeal by the Supreme Court

Muslim leaders slammed the decision saying that it smacked of bias and politics.

The high court ruling comes at a time when Muslim leaders are deciding which party to back in the upcoming month-long state-wide assembly elections that began on April 8. Some observers believe that the loss of minority status might drive many Muslim voters to support the ruling Samajwadi (Socialist) Party.

Javed Anand, a member of Muslims for Secular Democracy, is also concerned that the judgment, if upheld by the Supreme Court, might cause a social rift, and not only for Muslims.

Not surprisingly, the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was happy. "We welcome the judgment," said BJP leader Kalraj Mishra.