Govt resolves to give quota to Marathas, but not Muslims

Fadnavis said the state has filed an affidavit in the high court with information about dropout rate of Maratha students and the communityrsquos little presence in government jobs File picNagpur Following a twoday debate in the state legislature the state government has reiterated its resolve to give a 16 quota to the Maratha community but refused to grant a similar sop to Muslims saying that it would defy a constitutional provision that reservations cannot be given on the basis of religionIn his reply that lasted almost two hours on Friday Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said that his government was able to do what the previous government had failed in terms of making a strong case for Maratha reservation in the Bombay High Court He said the government has gathered historic and contemporary evidence to prove that the Maratha community was socially and economically backwardldquoThe Maratha community did get reservation in the past but the then government took it away in 1965 without giving any reason Subsequent official bodies such as Mandal Commission Khatri Commission and Bapat Commission did not approve of a quota for Marathas despite a serious demand and dire needrdquo he saidDesign to deprive MarathasFadnavis alleged that a member named Raosaheb Kasbe was included in the Bapat Committee barely two months before it submitted its report ldquoMajority members were in favour of a quota for Marathas but Kasbe changed that with his vote In fact Kasbe was neither involved in research work not did he take part in commissionrsquos deliberations Kasbersquos inclusion should be investigatedrdquo he saidHe said even a recommendation that Mandal Commission made against Marathas was based on wrong assumptions ldquoThe then government did not contest Mandal commission recommendationsrdquo he said raising a doubt over the intention of the Congress which had been ruling the state thenAfter effects of LS debacleThe CM went ahead charging the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party of using Marathas in vote bank politics ahead of the 2014 Assembly polls ldquoWhy did you think of promulgating an ordinance just before the Assembly polls Was it because you had lost 42 of 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra And why did you not convert the ordinance into a law by convening a special session of the legislaturerdquo asked FadnavisHe alleged that the reservation did not stand in the high court because the CongressNCP government had not submitted any evidence to support its decision before the court ldquoIt is wrong to say that my government is at fault I admit that we have taken some time to prepare but that time was utilized for researching the period since Chhatrapati Shivaji to prove the Maratha communityrsquos backwardness The community was given a quota by Rajashree Shahu Maharaj King of the Kolhapur princely state because it was backward The caste census between 1871 and 1933 also proves the communityrsquos weaker side in socioeconomyrdquo he saidHe said an affidavit that the state government has filed in the high court has information about dropout rate of Maratha students the communityrsquos little presence in government jobs and a huge presence in farming farm labourers and migrant sections of the societyThe CM refuted allegations that a recentlydeclared sop in education scholarship was a design to weaken the Marathasrsquo court case He said the decision was taken because the Maratha community if given a 16 quota would get only 900 seats in government colleges whereas if given scholarships and tuition fee reimbursement the community would avail of 15 lakh seats in private colleges across the stateNo quota for MuslimsFadnavis said that his government did not approve of an anticonstitutional way of granting Muslims a quota on the basis of religion ldquoOur law does not approve this kind of reservation We will follow the Constitution but at the same time continue to bring Muslims in the main stream by offering them schemes on the basis of economic backwardness We will also wait for the courtrsquos decision of continuing a 5 quota for Muslims in education that was given by the CongNCP govtrdquo he said adding that all scholarships and fee reimbursement programmes that were available to Marathas and others were available to Muslims as wellThe CM dismissed the CongressNCPrsquos claim that their alliancegovernment had given the entire community a 5 quota ldquoThis is misleading The decision was to offer 50 castes in the Muslim community a quota and not the entire community Anyways many castes in Muslims avail of the OBC SC and ST quota even now and wersquore not against itAtrocities Act will stayFadnavis allayed fears of the Dalit and tribals that the law for preventing atrocities against them would either be scrapped or diluted in view of a growing demand ldquoThe Maratha community has asked for the misuse of atrocities law in view of Kopardi gangrape and many other incidents to be stopped but they have not demanded scrapping of the lawrdquo he told the houseHowever the CM said that amending the law would amount to taking away the sting from the effective legislation The CM also announced formation of a legislatorsrsquo committee to understand the misuse of the law and recommend as to how the practice could be prevented