Sangliana Appointed Vice-Chairman of National Commission for Minorities

(December 19, 2009) The Indian government has appointed H.T. Sangliana, who was known as the super cop of Karnataka, as the vice-chairperson of the National Commission for Minorities. The appointment was announced through an extraordinary gazette notification on December 14. Sangliana, who was a member of the previous Lok Sabha (lower house of parliament), will work under Mohammed Shafi Qureshi, who leads the commission. It has powers to look into constitutional, legal and civil rights enforcement issues. He is the first Christian leader from north eastern India to assume the position at the commission, reports DNA, a national daily newspaper. The federal government set up the commission in 1992 to protect the interests of Buddhists, Christians, Muslims, Sikhs and Zoroastrians, all considered religious minorities in India. According to the newspaper, Sangliana has substantial knowledge of policing and judicial processes and quite aware of social realities of the country since he is a former member of parliament. The daily quoted Sangliana as saying his priorities would be to help channel benefits meant for the uplift of all the communities to which the Constitution has accorded minority status. Sangliana has drawn up a list of works to be done at the commission. Sangliana entered politics as a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party but was sacked for backing the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance that rules the federal government on the nuclear treaty with the United States. In the last general elections during April-May, Sangliana fought from Bangalore Central on a Congress ticket but lost to the BJP.