الهند: حزب المؤتمر يعد المسلمين بمخصصات في الوظائف والتعليم

خبر من مصادر إنجليزية.

في إطار الاستعداد لانتخابات مجلس الشعب في "الهند"، ومحاولة كسب أصوات الناخبين المسلمين الذين يشكلون نحو 10,6% من سكان ولاية "مارهاشترا" - أعلن حزب المؤتمر الحاكم أنه سيتم تخصيص وظائف ومِنَح دراسية، ومنحهم تمثيلاً أكبر بالمجتمع.

وأشار الحزب إلى أنه سيجري تنظيم مسيرات في مناطق الكثافة الإسلامية للتواصل مع المسلمين، وأنه سيُوافق على إنشاء "بيت الحج" في "أورانجباد"، وكذلك فرع لجامعة "عليكرة" الإسلامية؛ حيث تبلغ المخصصات في الوظائف والتعليم 10% بدلاً من 4%.

وقد تعرضت التصريحات للنقد، خاصةً بعدما أظهر تقرير لجنة "محمود الرحمن" أكتوبر الماضي أن 59,4% من مسلمي الحضر، و59,8% من مسلمي القرى تحت خط الفقر، إضافة إلى 2,2% بلغوا مرحلة التخرج من الرجال، وبلوغ 1,4% من النساء مرحلة التخرج، واشتراك 32% من المسلمين في سوق العمل و12,7% من المسلمات فحسب؛ المصدر: شبكة الألوكة.

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NCP plans to increase its presence in Muslim community

Assures reservation in job and education, scholarship for students

The ruling Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) proposes to reach out to the Muslim community by assuring its members greater representation in the local and civic bodies, reservation in education and jobs, and pre- and post-matric scholarship for students along the lines of other backward classes. NCP leaders, who met on Saturday, admitted that the party could not fully cash on Sharad Pawar's secular credentials to attract a greater number of members from the community, which makes up 10.6% of Maharashtra's total population.

NCP plans to organise rallies in Muslim-dominated districts including Nashik, Thane, Kolhapur, Beed, Aurangabad and other areas in the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls. The party has announced that it supports setting up the Haj House in Aurangabad and Aligarh Muslim University's centre in Maharashtra. The party has already indicated its support for providing 4% reservation to Muslims in education and jobs while extending support for 10% reservation to Maratha community for the same.

State NCP chief Bhaskar Jadhav told Business Standard "It has been our attempt to reach out to members of the Muslim community. Of the six NCP members in the Rajya Sabha, two are Muslims. There are two ministers in the state cabinet and key posts, such as president, vice-president and chairman are held in a couple of civic and local bodies. The party will do everything for the development of the community."

NCP spokesman Nawab Malik said the presence of Muslim members and minorities in general can be increased in the party organization by giving them greater representation in local and civic bodies and in state and national politics. "In addition to this, the pre- and post-matric scholarship will be provided to Muslim students along the lines of other backward classes. The state government can provide matching financial grant from its annual budget," he added.

NCP's move is critical considerng that the Mehmoodur Rehman Committee, which submitted its report to the state government in October last year, had said only about 2.2% of Muslims complete graduation, and 1.4% Muslim women reach graduation. The work participation rate among Muslims is 32.4%, while women work participation is only 12.7%. The committee also found that 59.4% of urban and 59.8% of rural Muslims are below the poverty line (BPL). The Committee has also found that about 25% Muslims are marginally above the poverty line.

Meanwhile, on Saturday, Pawar met party leaders from Buldhana and Madha parliamentary constituencies to fix nominees. NCP has finalised 17 nominees of the 22 seats from its quota for the Lok Sabha polls. However, it was finding it difficult to fix candidates for Buldhana, Madha, Beed, Hatkalangle and Amravati due to lack of consensus.

Pawar will continue talks with the party leaders on Sunday. He is expected to use his veto for finalizing nominees in the above five seats. He will also review the ground reports prepared by party representatives for 22 Lok Sabha seats. NCP will also put in place print, media and social media campaign strategy.