In an apparent move to woo the minority ahead of municipal and assembly elections in West Bengal in the next one year, chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee tonight said his government wanted for a long time to reserve ten per cent jobs for Muslims.
"There was a legal barrier so long, but the report of Ranganath Mishra Commission has given us the scope to reserve 10% of the government jobs for Muslims in West Bengal who consist of 25% of the (state) population," Bhattacharjee said at a programme here.
"We are in the process to reserve 10% of the jobs for them, considering all the legal aspects," Bhattacharjee said at the programme where he formally set forth the process of disbursement of cheques to the beneficiaries of West Bengal Minorities Development and Finance Corporation under its various loan and scholarship schemes.
Affirming his government's commitment to the minorities, Bhattacharjee said, "We have given Rs276 crore as loan to the minority community people in Bengal, of which Rs17.17 crore was spent in Nadia alone."
He asked boys and girls of the community to pursue education and added they would be assisted economically by the government.
To queries by the media on the issue of nuclear plant in Haripur, Bhattacharjee shot back "I have not come here to discuss Haripur".
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