Chavan offered to lead a delegation of Muslims to meet union home minister P Chidambaram to discuss their grievances.
Muslim community groups called off the boycott of chief minister Prithviraj Chavan’s iftar party after he offered to lead a delegation of Muslims to meet union home minister P Chidambaram to discuss their grievances.
A group of around 25 people, including representatives of non-government organisations met Chavan at the government guest house, Sahyadri, Saturday afternoon.
The representatives told the CM that innocent people may have been arrested in the 2006 Malegaon blast case, especially since some right-wing Hindu groups have claimed that they were involved in the attack.
Although the date of the meeting with Chidambaram is yet to be decided, the Delhi visit will take place in a few weeks, Chavan is reported to have told the delegates. M Khalid of Milli Council described the meeting as “positive”. “We think he gave sincere replies to all our questions. He said there were legal problems in some issues like the Malegaon accused. But he said the problems will be sorted out,” said Khalid.
Other issues discussed at the meeting were the grant of government land for the proposed Aligarh Muslim University campus in Maharashtra and the tardy implementation of the 15-point programme for minorities in the state. Chavan has also agreed to meet the representatives regularly to discuss community issues. “The significant thing about the meeting was that there was not a single Muslim MLA or MP in the delegation,” said Khalid.
Salim Alware of the Federation of Minority NGOs said, “There is a perception in the community that they are being treated as second class citizens by the administration. Government arms like the police have a different yardstick while dealing with the Muslim accused.”
“Chavan said that he will lead a group of Muslim NGOs and elected representatives to meet Chidambaram,” Alware added.
On Saturday, Chavan was scheduled to attend an iftar party at Haj House thrown by the city unit of the Congress party.
Another gathering was scheduled at Islam Gymkhana, but Chavan was expected to host his own iftar dinner later. The delegation that met Chavan also included Dr Abraham Mathai of the Maharashtra State Minorities Commission and film director Mahesh Bhatt who is part of an organisation called Harmony Foundation.
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