If Marathas can, why not others: Hardik, Owaisi demand quota for Patidars, Muslims as well

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Updated: Nov 30, 2018 00:01 IST

AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi Thursday demanded quota for Muslims, hours after the Maharashtra legislature passed a bill proposing 16 per cent reservation in education and government jobs for Marathas.

The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) said Muslims, too, deserve benefits of the reservation system as they have “lived for generations in poverty.”

In a tweet, the Lok Sabha from Hyderabad said depriving backward Muslims of their fair share in public employment and education was a grave injustice.

“I have consistently argued that there are backward castes in Muslims who have lived for generations in a cycle of poverty. Reservation is a tool that will break this cycle,” he stated.

AIMIM legislator from Maharashtra Imtiaz Jaleel questioned the BJP-led government’s “indifferent” attitude towards the minority community.

“The state government has shown an indifferent attitude towards the Muslims by completely ignoring their valid demands for 5 per cent reservation in education which was endorsed even by the High Court,” Jaleel said.

He said the “hurriedly” passed Bill for reservation to Marathas mentions the backwardness of the community on the basis of findings by a government-appointed commission.

Also read | Maharashtra approves 16% Maratha quota in jobs and education

“Going by the same logic, the plight of Muslims who have been regarded as socially, educationally and economically backward by three commissions - the Sachhar Commission, the Ranganath Mishra Commission and the Mehmood Rehman commission - should also have been given the same benefits as those being given to Marathas,” he said.

“But irrespective of which party is in power nobody cares for the welfare and upliftment of minorities,” Jaleel claimed.

He said the previous Congress-NCP government “cheated” the community by not giving them reservations while in power for 15 years and now the BJP-Shiv Sena administration is ignoring the community’s legitimate demands which is “highly condemnable”.

If BJP government in Maharashtra can, then why not in Gujarat: asks Hardik Patel

With the Maharashtra legislature passing a bill giving 16 per cent reservation to the Marathas, Patidar leader Hardik Patel asked Thursday why the BJP government in Gujarat cannot take the same step for his community.

He sought a survey to establish social and economic backwardness of Patidars, on the lines of a survey ordered by the BJP-led Maharashtra government for the Maratha community.

“No such survey was done in Gujarat. The survey would prove that Patidar community is socially and economically backward,” Patel told reporters at Patan in north Gujarat.

“If the BJP government in Maharashtra can do that, then why not Gujarat? Is that because the BJP government here is having ego issues?” he asked.

Meanwhile, a delegation of Patel-led Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) held another meeting with chairman of the Gujarat OBC Commission Sugnaben Bhatt in Gandhinagar Thursday.

A week ago, Patel and other PAAS leaders had met Bhatt and demanded that the commission conduct a survey of the Patidar (Patel) community on the lins of the survey conducted by Backward Class Commission for the Marathas in Maharashtra.

PAAS convener Geeta Patel, who was part of the delegation which called on Bhatt Thursday, said Bhatt sought some basic information about the community in Gujarat.

“She sought information such as number of sub-castes, sub-groups and various surnames used by Patidars. The chairman also sought to know the population of our community,” she said.

PAAS delegation sought two weeks to furnish these details, she said.

Meanwhile, some members of the Rajput community also approached the commission Thursday with a demand for a survey to establish their backwardness.