MUMBAI: The Maharashtra government seems to be reconsidering its stance on reservations for Muslims. While replying during question hour in the legislative council on Tuesday, minister for minorities development Eknath Khadse said the state government was committed to give minorities their just share.
“The Congress-Nationalist Congress Party could not give reservations for minorities for 50 years while they were in power. Now, when they are in the opposition, they want to rake up the issue to attract the minority community. We are looking into the technical glitches of the reservation issue. The matter, however, is sub judice,” the minister said.
Leader of the opposition Dhananjay Munde, who raised the issue through a starred question and questioned the action taken by government, asked if the government had promised to gather information from the advocate-general and a decision would be taken to provide reservation benefits to the Muslim community.
Sunil Tatkare, Vikram Kale, Sanjay Dutt, Sudhir Tambe, Bhai Jagtap and others had also raised the same question.
“The government should have come up with a new ordinance after the old one lapsed on December 24, 2014. Why was it not issued? There was no need to take the advocate-general’s opinion to continue the 5% reservation. The high court is above the advocate-general. Did the government now know this?” said Munde.
Khadse pointed out that since the ordinance, which was issued by the previous government, had lapsed, his government would do whatever was needed. Khadse added that Maratha and Muslim reservations were different. “The NCP is politicizing the issue. The Muslim community knows that when you (NCP-Congress) were in power, you had not provided reservations,” said Khadse.
“The reservations were only for the backward classes from the Muslim community. It was not on the basis of religion. This government’s stand is anti-Muslim,” said Sanjay Nirupam, chief of the Congress’s Mumbai unit.
The council witnessed pandemonium and sloganeering as the opposition was unsatisfied with the minister’s reply.
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