Pune: The Muslim community in the city have given a mixed response when asked about the current government’s work.
The community expects that in the forthcoming elections, problems of the community such as education and unemployment will be addressed and whichever government comes to power must work towards uplifting the community by empowering them without any discrimination.
Iqbal Ansari, National President, All India Muslim OBC organisation, said, “In last five years, hatred and intolerance have increased in the country. The constant polarisation by the current government will do no good for the country’s unity. We want a government that is secular and which will address the basic problems of the community, which is education and unemployment.”
He further said, “The poor implementation of Goods and Service Tax (GST) has negatively impacted the small scale businesses. Likewise, we want a government that can work for the empowerment of the community by providing scholarships to students and also by empowering the small scale businesses by helping them with easy loans. Because if the small scale businesses do not grow, the economy of the country will not develop.”
“If a strong majority government comes to power, it will be of no good as the power lies only in one person’s hand and they won’t think about the people at large. The coalition government can be an alternative, as it will be formed with people from different parties coming together and thus, will connect well with the common man and understand their problems,” he added.
“Close to 20 per cent of the population in the country are minorities and in this election, there will be a shift of seven per cent people from the community, as they will vote for BJP. And there are several reasons for that. Firstly, the country has been riot free for the last five years. Secondly, the 10 per cent reservation to Economically Backward Class has increased the benefit for minorities and also the implementation of the historical Triple Talaq Bill, which has empowered the women of the community,” said Ali Daruwala, State President, Muslim Rashtriya Manch, Maharashtra.
“As a community, we all want development, social security and safety for our youths and the current government has done great work for the betterment of the community without discriminating and Muslims have witnessed it. Muslims feel safe under the current government,” he added.
Salim B Mulla, Founder President, Maharashtra Waqf Liberation and Protection Taskforce, said, “The basic problem of the community is education and to empower any community, it is very important to educate them. If the community is educated, awareness will increase and discrimination will automatically reduce.” He further said, “Commercialisation of education should stop and everyone should have access to free education upto class XIIth. It will not only empower the minorities but also everyone else.”
“We have witnessed that the current government’s agenda has been development and education and they have also sanctioned a 100 acre land for a national skill and vocational university under Waqf and we hope that they will do things for the upliftment of the community if they come to power again but they should not come with a huge majority or else there will be no one to question them,” added Salim Mulla.
Haji Zakir Shaikh, President, All India Quami Tanzeem, Western Maharashtra, said “There are families who are dependent on one man’s earning and if there is no employment, then how will people survive. As a community, our problems are education and unemployment but the current government is least bothered to solve these issues. They have made the announcement but nothing gets implemented.”
“We want a government that is secular and gives priority to the minorities by giving reservation in jobs and education and help in empowering them,” added Shaikh.
Ikram Khan, National Vice-President of Minority Department, NCP, said, “We want a leader like Sharad Pawar to lead us as he is well educated, broad-minded and a balanced leader who can work for the welfare of everyone.”
“We want a government that doesn’t talk about religion. We want a peaceful society where everyone has an equal right to eat and drink whatever they want. We want a government that can provide the community with opportunities like higher education and employment,” he further added.
“In the last five years, polarisation has increased, which eventually makes the radicals stronger in their community and soon, they become the voice of the community, which is very harmful to the society. They start to manipulate the community as per their own requirements and move the community from mainstream politics,” added Khan.
“We have lesser representation in Lok Sabha due to which our issues aren’t raised. There should be reservation in the election as well so that more people from our community will be MPs and MLAs and more decisions can be taken for the benefit of youths,” Khan added further.
