The Centre must set up an equal opportunities commission to prevent socially-backward communities from being further marginalised, civil rights activist and journalist Teesta Setalvad said here on Saturday.

Such a body is required to ensure that they are not sidelined in government jobs and policies. It is also necessary to teach inclusive history, wherein the contribution of adivasis, tribal heroes, and hitherto marginalised communities to nation building are portrayed correctly, she added. Ms. Setalvad was inaugurating a minority reservation convention here.

The activist also sought steps to implement the Ranganath Mishra Commission recommendations on religious and linguistic minorities. She called upon stakeholders to break their five-year-long silence and to debate about measures needed to bring marginalised communities into the mainstream. She also sought a national data bank with socio-economic data on various communities. Ms. Setalvad termed the NDA government at the Centre anti-democratic, anti-worker, and anti-farmer.

Speaking on the occasion, former High Court judge B. Kemal Pasha said Muslims did not get even half their share of reservation in government jobs, though they constituted 27% of the State’s population. On the contrary, several communities are over-represented vis-a-vis their population. All this could lead to communal polarisation, he added.