By Our Correspondent
NEW DELHI – Maharashtrian Muslims under the banner of the Muslim Welfare Association have made a fresh demand for a 5 % reservation for the community in government jobs and educational institutions after the conclusion of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The fresh demand includes political reservation as well in view of the declining number of Muslim legislators in the State Assemblies and the Parliament. Samajwadi Party and Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), which is part of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Mahayuti coalition government in Maharashtra, have also extended their support to the demand.
The issue has assumed importance in the wake of Prime Minister Narendra Modi claiming during the Lok Sabha election campaign that the reservation for SC, ST and OBCs was snatched and given to Muslims during the Congress rule. Muslims in Maharashtra have made it clear that if the issue is not raised and discussed during the ongoing session of the State Assembly, they will take an aggressive stand to fight for their legitimate right.
The Muslim Welfare Association raised the demand for reservations at a press conference in Mumbai on June 28. It cited the past reports and judgments of the Bombay High Court and various Commissions in this regard. Infuriated by the inefficiency of previous governments in implementing 5% quota to the Muslim community approved by the High Court, the Association said it was ready to build a new movement around the need for a reservation. It claimed that the demand was mainly meant for the field of education for economically backward Muslims.
The Association cited the implementation of reservation policy in Andhra Pradesh by the National Democratic Alliance-affiliated Telugu Desam Party. It said the reservation was necessary to bring Muslims into the mainstream of education. It pointed out that the root cause of poverty within the community was lack of education, as 75% of children between the ages of 6 and 14 dropped out of school within the first few years.
Saleem Sarang, founder member of the Muslim Welfare Association, said: “Each party seems to use Muslims only to get votes in elections. But no one seems to be fighting for the rights of Muslims. Muslims vote but they don’t get a chance to be voted. Almost all the parties have seen a big drop in Muslim candidates. Is this a ploy to deliberately keep Muslims away from political leadership?”
Sarang said it seemed that along with the educational reservation, Muslims should also demand political reservation. Therefore, the party which includes the issue of Muslim reservation in its manifesto in the next election, would get the support from Muslims in the future, he affirmed.
The Association said it expected to see a discussion in the State Assembly’s monsoon session about Muslim reservation and would pursue the matter aggressively if the demands were not met. The Association also warned of organizing protests throughout Maharashtra for the demand. Muslim representatives from across the state participated in the press conference to express their support for the movement. The community members from Latur, Baramati and Marathawada showed readiness to hit the streets for reservation.
The Association also stated that it will share a statement on the demand to the Collectors in every district of the state and a delegation will be meeting the Governor to put forth the demand. Representatives of the Memon community, which is a well-off business community within the Muslims, said they do not need the reservation but expressed their support to the movement for other economically backward Muslims.
“Nobody knew Manoj Jarange before this, but he took up his cause of Maratha reservation with a great strength and unity. We need to show similar unity for this cause and should fight for it in a democratic way. Although Memons are a well-to-do community and do not need reservation, we support this cause and will stand by the community,” said Iqbal Memon, president of All India Memon Jamaat Federation.
Sarang, a firebrand leader of Muslim community in Maharashtra, is vice-president of Ajit Pawar-led NCP, which forms part of the Mahayuti coalition government in the state. Sarang said none of the major political parties was fielding Muslim candidates in the elections and there was not a single Muslim MP from Maharashtra. There is not a single Muslim Minister in the Narendra Modi government, he said in his statement which came in the run-up to the Assembly election in Maharashtra scheduled in October this year.
The local body elections of Municipal Corporations and Municipal Councils are also pending for a long time in Maharashtra. Sarang said the state government had not yet implemented the 5% reservation
in education for the Muslim community, approved by the Bombay High Court. “If this reservation is implemented in other states then why not in Maharashtra?,” he asked.
When the erstwhile Democratic Front government comprising Congress and undivided NCP was in power, the reservation was extended to Muslims. “If N. Chandrababu Naidu-led Telugu Desam Party, which is now an ally of the BJP and a crucial member of the NDA government, can declare 4% reservation to Muslims in Andhra Pradesh, what is stopping Maharashtra government from implementing the 5% reservation to Muslims in education which is already passed by the High Court?,” said Sarang.
“In the matter of education, the Muslim community is still backward due to economic constraints and figures speak for themselves. Only 2% to 3% of children receive higher education. The proportion of Muslims below the poverty line is also high. Their ratio is 2% to 2.5% in government jobs as well as private jobs. Drug addiction and criminality are increasing among uneducated, unemployed Muslim youth. The root cause of all this is lack of education,” said Sarang, who is also a prominent social worker.
Making a strong statement, Sarang said: “No matter which government comes to power in Maharashtra, no one takes the issue of reservation for Muslim community seriously and does not implement this quota approved by the court, it is disgraceful! It seems that every party uses Muslims only to get votes in elections. But no one seems to be fighting for for the rights of Muslims,” he said, adding that there seemed to be a conspiracy to keep Muslims away from political leadership.
The Samajwadi Party has also demanded that the Mahayuti government in Maharashtra should provide 5% reservation to the Muslim community in the state. In a letter written to Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy CMs Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar, Samajwadi party MLA Rais Shaikh has demanded that the quota must be given to Muslims at the earliest to eradicate their backwardness.
In his letter, Shaikh, an MLA from Bhiwandi (East), referred to a recent statement made by the TDP general secretary and Andhra Pradesh CM’s son Nara Lokesh saying that his party was committed to reservation for Muslims under the OBC category and the reservations provided to Muslims is not appeasement but for social justice to bring them out of poverty.
“If a key BJP ally in NDA is committed to the Muslim reservation in Andhra Pradesh, the BJP in the state and its alliance partners such as Shiv Sena and NCP will not have any problem at all in giving reservation to Muslims in the state. I urge the state government to bring a law immediately to provide reservations to Muslims,” Shaikh said. The SP MLA also accused the Mahayuti government of causing delay in carrying out the detailed survey on the socio-economic status of the Muslim community.
“The Dr. Mehmoodur Rehman Committee has suggested a survey of the Muslim community in the state. Accordingly, the Mahayuti government appointed the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) and sanctioned Rs. 33 lakh for the survey. However, the work order has not been issued to TISS since a year and a half. Why is injustice being meted out to the Muslim community?” asked Shaikh. Shaikh also mentioned that the then Congress-NCP government had given reservation to Muslims through an ordinance and the Bombay High Court had also upheld the 5% reservation in education for Muslims.
Recently, Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange demanded that Muslims in Maharashtra should be given reservation in the OBC category. The population of the Muslim community in the state is 11.5%. During the Lok Sabha elections, TDP, which formed an alliance with the BJP, had promised reservation to the Muslim community in Andhra Pradesh after his party came to power. Naidu had also assured that financial aid of Rs. 1 lakh will be extended to Muslim pilgrims who visit the holy city of Makkah.
