Give quota to outsiders: Mumbai Cong chief

In a development that will have a political fallout, Mumbai Congress chief Sanjay Nirupam on Monday led a delegation to Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for people denied reservation because they are from outside the state.

Nirupam said people from OBC, SC and ST communities are given the status of backward classes in the northern parts of India, which they are denied in Maharashtra.

In a memorandum to Fadnavis, Nirupam said, "People belonging to multiple castes have migrated from northern parts of India to Mumbai in search of employment. This includes people from more than 30 varied castes, including Vishwakarma, Kurmi, Koiri, Pal, Kanojia, Gupta, Chaurasiya, Maurya and Rajbhar castes, who have been residing in Maharashtra for almost 2-3 generations now. Unfortunately, these people haven't received the status of backward castes yet. This is denying them their fundamental rights. A country needs to have one uniform rule that can be implemented across all states."

"The government should bring a new system in place, wherein the domicile certificate will be considered the only mandatory criteria for allotting someone a caste certificate as opposed to the current tedious system," said Nirupam, who is a former Congress MP from the Mumbai North constituency and and ex-Rajya Sabha member from Shiv Sena.

Nirupam's letter was signed by 25 prominent citizens hailing from the OBC community who supported Nirupam's demand.

The development comes at a time when Nirupam himself is facing trouble, as a section is lobbying for his ouster as the Mumbai Regional Congress Committee president.