The trigger was a slew of announcements made by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis after meeting the delegation of Maratha Kranti Morcha, which organised morcha on Wednesday to press for quotas for the Maratha community.
Prominent Muslim community leaders in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, on Wednesday, made a strong pitch for restoration of 5 per cent quota for education for Muslims. Samajwadi Party MLA Abu Azmi, Congress legislator Naseem Khan, and Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) legislators Waris Pathan and Imtiyaz Jaleel said they support reservation for the Maratha community, but wanted the government to be pro-active in providing quota for the Muslim community. The community constitutes 11 per cent of the state population.
The trigger was a slew of announcements made by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis after meeting the delegation of Maratha Kranti Morcha, which organised morcha on Wednesday to press for quotas for the Maratha community.
After Fadnavis ended his statement, Azmi wanted to know why the government was silent on the issue of reservation for Muslims. He reminded that previous Congress-NCP government had provided 5 per cent quota in jobs and education for the community but subsequently the Bombay high court stayed reservation in jobs but restored quota in education. Later, the government scrapped an ordinance providing reservation for Muslims, despite the HC allowing quota in educational institutions.
"There are 20 crore Muslims in the country and they cannot be left out in the development process,'' Azmi said.
The Samajwadi Party legislator was supported by former minister and Congress legislator Naseem Khan.
Pathan criticised the government for not being serious on the issue of providing reservation to the Muslim community.
Congress MP and Maulana Azad Vichar Manch convenor Hussian Dalwai strongly justified quota for Muslim community in the education, especially when 32 per cent children are child labours and the community is the most backward one.
However, Fadnavis noted that the Muslims from OBC and SC communities were already covered by reservations. "Regarding the other quotas, there are HC judgments and the State government has its opinions. We are bound to take decisions based on Constitutional provisions," he said, adding that Muslim students would also get the benefit of scholarships for 605 courses. The state government has covered OBC and Maratha students under these scholarships.
Fresh demand by these leaders is important as various organisations representing the Muslim community had organised morchas across the state during January and March demanding 15 per cent reservation under the Rangnath Mishra Commission, Sacchar Committee and Mehmood-Ur-Rehman Committee reports. These morchas were organised on the lines of similar mobilisation by the Maratha community.
Azmi, Khan and Pathan hinted that the Muslim community will have to again hit the roads and organize morchas to attract the government's attention if the decision is not taken at the earliest.
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