League To Fight For Quota For Minorities

The all India president of Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), G M Banatwala, MP, yesterday said since the womens reservation bill represented a fractured view of a policy of social justice and his party would strive to see that minorities and other backward classes (OBCs) secure their justified quota of reservation in parliament and state legislatures.

Addressing a press conference here, Banatwala said he was shocked by the fact that several national and secular parties had ganged up with the BJP in denying reservation of seats for the minorities and OBCs. The leftists and the BJP have openly said there can be no representation for the minorities and OBCs.

Coming down heavily on the attempts by some MPs to push through the womens bill hastily, the IUML president said the bill was pushed through when hardly few minutes were left on the last day of the just concluded parliament session with a bald motion being moved for the bills consideration.

Though the bill will affect the composition of the state legislatures, there has been no prior consultations with even the state chief ministers by the central government which swears by the policy of consensus, he said.

Banatwala said despite the contentions of well-known leaders like late Congress president Pattabi Sitaramaiah, that it was the moral responsibility of all to see that Muslims and other minorities were represented adequately, as there had been a continuous decline in Muslim and other minority representatives.

Maharashtra and Himachal Pradesh assemblies had not a single Muslim representative, while in Gujarat there was only one MLA. In short, both in Lok Sabha and state legislatures, we find a situation of representation of Muslims and minorities dismal and highly inadequate. We will not associate with the passage of the bill unless reservation for minorities and OBCs are provided for, he said. Banatwala said he was grateful to the DMK government for their support for reservation of seats for the Muslims and OBCs.

The Chief Minister, M Karunanidhi, had also made a statement to this effect, he said.