Mumbai, Oct 25: Maharashtra’s regional working president of Congress and former minister Naseem Khan on Tuesday said that, in the year of 2014 when Congress was in power, it had decided to give reservation to 50 backward castes of the Muslim community and its implementation had also started, similarly, the Bombay High Court also approved the decision to continue the said reservation. But after the BJP government came to power, they stopped the said reservation, despite repeated demands, reservation is not granted to the Muslim community.
He was speaking at a meeting of representatives of Muslim organizations from various districts of the state in Mumbai.
In this meeting, retired judge of Bombay High Court Abhay Thipse, former MP Dr. Bhalchandra Mungekar, Naseem Siddiqui of NCP among others were present.
Khan alleged that the BJP government and its leaders are misleading that no reservation can be given on the basis of religion, but everyone in this state knows that reservation was given to the Muslim community on the basis of backwardness and not in the name of religion, and the decisions taken regarding reservation were based on backwardness.
The Bombay High Court upheld the decision and approved the decision to continue the reservation on the basis of equity and within the framework of the Constitution. However, the government immediately announced that the reservation should be restored to the Muslim community on the basis of its backwardness, otherwise there would be a massive agitation across the state.
Naseem Khan further said that caste-wise census should be started in Maharashtra as well as caste-wise census has been done in Bihar state along with Muslim reservation.
In this regard, Khan welcomed the instructions given by the Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar to start a caste-wise census in the state.
If a caste wise census is started in the state then the number of caste, tribe people in the state will be exposed to the state and the country which will help to include all the community elements in the mainstream of development,added Khan.
