“The proportion of Muslims in government organisations is very less compared to others.” Eknath Khadse Minority affairs minister
Mumbai : Alleging in the legislative council that the government is not serious about giving reservation to the Muslim community, the Opposition stalled the legislative council’s proceedings on Thursday.
Opposition members stormed into the well of the House and shouted slogans against the government when the state minority minister Eknath Khadase could not reply satisfactorily to the queries raised by Opposition members. After the Opposition’s agitation, Chairman Ramraje Nimbalkar adjourned the House for half an hour.
NCP MLC Abdullah Khan Durrani raised a query about reservation for Muslims during the Question Hour. “The chief minister had in December last year said that the government will seek the opinion of the Advocate General and provide reservation to Muslims. Many committees were formed to study the socio-economic status of Muslims, but nothing has happened,” Durrani said.
Another MLC, Kapil Patil, questioned, “Why did the government scrap the five-per cent reservation for Muslims in education in spite of the high court order (regarding the same)?”
Khadse said that the government is serious about providing reservation to the Muslim community and added that it has submitted an affidavit in the Supreme Court stating its stand on the condition of Muslims.
“The proportion of Muslims in government organisations is very less compared to others. We have already submitted an affidavit on the issue to the high court. Now, we are going to give the status of ‘backward class’ to the Muslim community,” Khadse said.
The state had challenged the Bombay High Court order in the Supreme Court, which refused to interfere with the interim decision of the high court, but did ask the Maharashtra government to go back to the high court on the issue.
