JOIN USMaharashtra: Congress renews pitch for Muslim reservation
In the run up to the 2024 Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha polls, the Congress in Maharashtra raised the pitch for restoration of 5 per cent quota for Muslims in educational institutions and government services.
Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee’s working president and former minister Naseem Khan has raised the issue.
“For the upliftment of the Muslim community, the reservation in education and government service is a must,” said Khan addressing a gathering in which Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind felicitated three students who had cleared the UPSC examinations.
These three students are Sayyed Mohammed Hussain, Aayesha Qazi, Shabina Ansari.
“All of them come from humble backgrounds and they have made it to the top with their relentless efforts,” he said.
A four-time former MLA from Mumbai, Khan, in the past had served as ministers in several departments including home and minority affairs.
Khan, who has been credited with unveiling the plan to modernise madrasas, said that students need to be helped out and reservation would go a long way in bringing the people to the mainstream. “The aim is to bring the students to the mainstream, so that they are at par in this competitive world,” said Khan.
He said that when the Congress-NCP Democratic Front government was in power from 1999-2014, it made efforts and finally ensured that the Muslims and Maratha community get reservation.
The Congress-NCP government in 2014 had issued an ordinance whereby they gave a five per cent quota to the Muslim community, and 16 per cent to the Marathas. However, the BJP-Shiv Sena government that came to power in the state in the successive polls and ruled from 2014-19, had enacted a law for the Marathas but put a hold on the Muslim reservation.
When the Maha Vikas Aghadi government comprising Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress came to power, Khan corresponded with the government seeking restoration of quota to the Muslims.
“I demand the present Eknath Shinde-government to ensure that the Muslims are given reservations on the basis of economic backwardness, as it would go a long way,” said Khan.
Recently he had also called up the new Governor Ramesh Bais to direct the state government to restore Muslim quota.
Khan said that the spirit of the Sachar Committee report must be maintained.
At this felicitation programmel Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind's Secretary (Legal Cell) Gulzar Azmi, Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind's State working president Hafiz Masood, General secretary Maulana Haleem Ullah Qasmi, treasurer Mufti Yusuf along with office bearers from all over Maharashtra were present.