Mumbai, India - With the Congress government in Andhra Pradesh reserving five percent of jobs for Muslims, a similar is being made in Maharashtra. All-India general secretary of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Akhtar Rizvi said he will take up the matter at a meeting of party office-bearers to be held in Delhi soon.
"The NCP is committed to the welfare of minorities. If the AP government can legally provide for reservations for Muslims, I see no reason why a similar facility cannot be given to the community in Maharashtra," Rizvi stated.
The NCP and the Congress are heading the Democratic Front coalition in Maharashtra. He said the reservation will help alleviate the sufferings of Muslims to certain extent. He is expected to take up the matter with NCP president and Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar before tabling a proposal at the meeting of party office-bearers.
All-India vice-president of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad Anandshankar Pandya said the AP government's decision was fraught with danger. "The politics of vote bank has already divided the people. This demand for reservation will further weaken national unity. There should not be any religion-based reservation at all," Pandya added.
Congress MLA from Kurla and ex-minister Arif Naseem Khan said for the past several years he has been demanding reservation for Muslims in Maharashtra. "In fact, three years ago the state cabinet had set-up a sub-committee to study this issue.
I had appeared before this sub-committee and given a detailed justification for extending the benefits of reservation to Muslims. But I do not know what happened after that."Since our party's government in Andhra Pradesh has introduced the reservation for Muslims, there is a precedent and chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh shoud initiate a proposal in this regard," Khan observed.
He noted that the AP chief minister YSR Reddy had proactively introduced reservation for Muslims in his state.
Convenor of Muslim Young India Feroze Mithiborwala also called for reservation for Muslims. He said reservation per se will not solve the problem of poverty and unemployment among Muslims. But it will certainly make a dent on the problem. It is a piece of social engineering which should be welcomed by all progressive people, he noted.