Maharashtra Politics: There is a demand for five percent reservation for the Muslim community in Maharashtra. Now a SP leader has raised this issue with CM Eknath Shinde.
Maharashtra News: Maratha Reservation Bill for reservation in education and jobs in Maharashtra has been passed in the Assembly. Now the demand for giving similar benefits of reservation to the Muslim community in the state has intensified. This demand has been made by an MLA of Samajwadi Party.
SP MLA Rais Shaiksh has written a letter to CM Eknath Shinde in this regard. In the letter, Raees demanded 5 percent reservation for the Muslim community in government jobs and education in the state.
Raees Shaikh, MLA from Bhiwandi in Thane district, also shared a copy of his letter with the media on Friday. Earlier this week, the Maharashtra Legislature approved a bill related to giving 10 percent reservation to the Maratha community. Raees Shaikh said in his letter that the previous Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) government had issued an ordinance giving five percent reservation to Muslims in education, which was also upheld by the Bombay High Court, but the ordinance could not take legal form.
Raees gave this reasoning behind the demand for reservation
Raees Shaikh said the demand for reservation is being made on the basis of economic and social backwardness of the community and it will benefit about “50 sub-castes” of the community. He said that he welcomes the decision to give separate reservation to the Maratha community. The SP leader said that reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBC) should not be tampered with.
Raees Sheikh said that Muslims constitute 11.5 percent of the total population of Maharashtra and Justice Rajendra Sachar Commission (2006) and Justice Ranganath Mishra Committee (2004) have acknowledged the backwardness of the community. The SP leader said that in 2009, the Congress led government had formed the Dr. M.R. Committee. It had suggested giving 8 percent reservation to the Muslim community in education and jobs.