The growing clamour for Maratha reservation in state jobs and education has now prompted Muslim leaders to take up a similar cause for their own community.
Even as he backed the Maratha cause, Congress MP Husain Dalwai said the Muslim community too should be given reservation in keeping with the recommendations made by the Bombay high court and a number of other committees.
Mr Dalwai on Monday said that rather than making the demand for Muslim reservation a political issue, he had invited NGOs to work towards the same, exhorting them to take out rallies similar to the ones taken out by bodies representing Marathas to seek reservations.
Speaking on the need to push for reservations for the Muslims, Mr Dalwai told The Asian Age that for long, the Muslims have remained backward socially and economically so much so that the community lags behind even the Scheduled Caste /Scheduled Tribe and Other Backward Caste communities.
“It is true that despite being in power for 15 years, the Congress did not do anything for the upliftment of Muslims and for that I am sorry and apologise to the community. However, it is now time for the Muslims to stand up and demand their rights,” said Mr Dalwai.
