Minority Affairs Ministry will reach out to Muslims in bid to remove the misgivings they harbour about the Modi govt
NEW DELHI : In an attempt to remove the misgivings that the Muslims harbour about the Modi government, the Minority Affairs Ministry is planning to hold over half a dozen conclaves in the country to connect with them and provide them an open forum to air their ‘mann ki baat (own thoughts).’
These conclaves will be held in Delhi, Kerala, Rajasthan, Assam, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal and maybe later in Bihar after the Assembly elections are over in the state, according to Minister of State for Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi. He hopes that these conclaves will make the Muslims feel safe and help in their empowerment.
“We are planning multi-city conclaves post-Ramzan and will be calling for direct participation from the Muslim community. We want to connect with them to make the community feel safe and also to bring them into the mainstream,” Naqvi said, pointing out that currently he was touring across the country to meet the local leaders of the minority communities to understand and address their grievances.
“So far, I have travelled to 19 states, including the big states of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. I have covered most states in central India and South and now plan to travel extensively in seven north-eastern states in August after the end of Parliament”s monsoon session.
“Once we have collated the grievances of minorities from across the country, we will try and address them in the conclaves, which will be platforms for directly communicating and engaging with the Muslim community,” Naqvi told a local daily.
One fact that he noticed during his extensive tour is that the money spent by the states on the minority welfare was not showing results on the rounds.
Funds meant for them were not well-spent as justice has not been done with regard to socio-economic and educational empowerment of the minorities, he said.
He said the ministry has already initiated a Mission Empowerment review programme to assess impact of the welfare schemes on the minorities.
“We hope to come out with a report at the earliest. We want to bring about a definite change in the lives of the minority population that has so far been ignored,” he added.
