All India Ulema Waqf Board chief lashes out at MVA govt for not implementing reservation for Muslims

Mumbai: At a time when the Maharashtra reservation issue is escalating, All India Ulema Waqf Board’s (AIUWB) Chief Saleem Sarang lashed out at the erstwhile Maha Vikas Aghadi government for not implementing the 5 per cent reservation for Muslims in education.

AIUWB National President Sarang is a senior leader of the NCP faction led by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar.

“Despite the court approving 5 per cent reservation in education for the Muslim community in Maharashtra, to date, no government has seemed eager to implement it,” Sarang said, lashing out at the successive governments.

“Time and again, it has been established that the Muslim youth need the benefit of reservation in education and jobs. We have the necessary to establish that Muslim youth do need reservation,” he said.

Sarang, who is known for his wide-ranging social work, said that now while in Opposition they are showing keen interest in Muslim reservation, no decision was taken when Uddhav Thackeray was the chief minister heading the MVA.

“The MVA should tell what they did for Muslims when they were in power. Now, a political drama is being played in the name of Muslim reservation in Maharashtra. The political parties who are seeking Muslim reservation currently never thought about reservation when they were in power,” he said, adding: “This was a deliberate conspiracy to keep Muslims backward and away from mainstream development.”

Sarang further said that during the MVA regime, no committees like the Haj Committee were formed.

Criticising a recent conference organised in Mumbai to discuss Muslim reservations, he said that many well-known leaders did not consider it necessary to participate in this conference.

“Muslims are not able to implement reservations due to their weak organisational strength and lack of adequate political representation across parties,” he said.