To increase pressure on the ruling BJP-Shiv Sena for being non-committal on granting reservations to Muslims, the All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) is forging a pressure group with Dalit and Maratha organisations.
To increase pressure on the ruling BJP-Shiv Sena for being non-committal on granting reservations to Muslims, the All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) is forging a pressure group with Dalit and Maratha organisations.
Led by the Owaisi brothers from Hyderabad, the AIMIM managed a spectacular debut in the state assembly polls last year, by winning two Muslim-dominated seats. It is now planning a rainbow coalition with Dalit and minority fronts for the municipal elections.
AIMIM president and Lok Sabha MP from Hyderabad, Asaduddin Owaisi had held a rally in Beed demanding Muslim quotas. The issue has deep emotional resonance in the community, and AIMIM has threatened to protest against the state if the demand is not met.
On Wednesday, Owaisi was due to address the Muslim Arakshan Parishad organised by the Maharashtra Action Committee and the Mulnivasi Muslim Manch at Pune. But after the Shiv Sena objected to the event, the Pune police denied permission.
Former journalist and AIMIM MLA from Aurangabad, Imtiaz Jaleel spoke to dna, saying: "We want to bring before the people the injustice meted out to the community. If the country is to develop, all castes and communities must be taken along, the largest majority in the minority cannot be ignored."
About the Pune police's move, he questioned: "The police cannot function under pressure from any political party... is this saffronisation of the Pune police or simply incompetence?"
The previous Congress-NCP government had promulgated ordinances in a controversial move to grant quotas to Marathas (16%) and Muslims (5%) by categorising them as educationally and socially backward. In November 2014, the Bombay high court stayed the Maratha quota and reservations in jobs for Muslims, while not staying quotas for Muslims in education.
In the winter session, the Devendra Fadnavis-led government passed a bill for Maratha reservations while not tabling a legislation for similar benefits to Muslims. Fadnavis later said they were taking legal advice to get out of the legal tangle. The ordinance on affirmative action for Muslims lapsed in January.
"We want to create a pressure group. Though the issue is in court, we want to create awareness... and bring to light the dirty politics that the community has been witnessing during the days of the Congress- NCP government and even now," said Jaleel.
He added that they would reach out to people on why reservations were essential for Muslims and said they would join hands with members of like-minded organisations.
The state government's Mehmood-ur-Rehman committee had underlined that just 2.2% of Muslims, who comprise around 10.6% of Maharashtra's population and form the second-largest religious group, had completed graduation. The percentage of women graduates at an even lesser 1.4% and over half (59.4%) of Muslims are below the poverty line in urban areas, while the figure is marginally higher in the hinterlands at 59.8%.
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