India Rulers Woo Muslims
Seeking to win support of Muslim voters in India’s most populous state of Uttar Pradesh ahead of next year’s general election, the Congress Party is pledging services, improvements and funds for the sizable minority.
“The importance of education should be conveyed to Indian Muslims and acquaint them with the schemes brought by the Center for their welfare so that they derive maximum utilization,” Union Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal told a conference in the capital Lucknow cited by The Times of India.
“It is your responsibility to make the government answerable; to take two steps and ask it to take four steps.”
The party has pledged more funds to improve social services for Muslims and other religious minorities in the state.
“According to my own calculations, a whopping Rs 1 lakh crore have been allotted for the Uttar Pradesh Muslims under social services,” Maulana Mohammad Fazlur Rahim Mujaddidi, chairman of Strive for Eminence and Empowerment (SEE), said.
The pledges come ahead of next year’s general election in Uttar Pradesh and amid a declining support for the once leading party among Muslims.
The Congress Party, which runs the federal government in New Delhi, was dealt a heavy blow by Muslim voters in last year’s regional election in the state.
Muslim voters massively cast ballot for regional Samajwadi Party, while the party came fourth.
The results were a mid-term popularity test for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's scandal-tainted government ahead of next year’s polls and a first appraisal of Rahul Gandhi, the next in line in the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty.
Gandhi, who left no stone unturned in giving a tough fight to the rival Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), tried badly to woo Muslims who have deserted the Congress after 1992 Babri Masjid demolition.
The Congress efforts come as estimates show a sharp decline in the welfare programs for Muslims.
“Despite the government’s publicized support for the Sachar Committee Report’s recommendations to increase diversity in public spaces and to ensure the minorities’ proportionate benefits from mainstream institutions, the government’s record is notably lackluster,” said a new paper cited by The Hindu.
Titled, “Six Years After Sachar: A Review of Inclusive Policies in India,” the paper was prepared by economist and chief scholar at the US-India Policy Institute Abusaleh Shariff.
It said that Muslims had almost no presence in the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.
There are some 140 million Muslims in Hindu-majority India and they have long complained of being discriminated against in all walks of life.
Muslims complain of decades of social and economic neglect and oppression.
Official figures reveal Muslims log lower educational levels and higher unemployment rates than the Hindu majority and other minorities like Christians and Sikhs.
They account for less than seven percent of public service employees, only five percent of railways workers, around four percent of banking employees and there are only 29,000 Muslims in India's 1.3 million-strong military.
Source: OnIslam.net
“It is your responsibility to make the government answerable; to take two steps and ask it to take four steps.”
The party has pledged more funds to improve social services for Muslims and other religious minorities in the state.
“According to my own calculations, a whopping Rs 1 lakh crore have been allotted for the Uttar Pradesh Muslims under social services,” Maulana Mohammad Fazlur Rahim Mujaddidi, chairman of Strive for Eminence and Empowerment (SEE), said.
The pledges come ahead of next year’s general election in Uttar Pradesh and amid a declining support for the once leading party among Muslims.
The Congress Party, which runs the federal government in New Delhi, was dealt a heavy blow by Muslim voters in last year’s regional election in the state.
Muslim voters massively cast ballot for regional Samajwadi Party, while the party came fourth.
The results were a mid-term popularity test for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's scandal-tainted government ahead of next year’s polls and a first appraisal of Rahul Gandhi, the next in line in the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty.
Gandhi, who left no stone unturned in giving a tough fight to the rival Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), tried badly to woo Muslims who have deserted the Congress after 1992 Babri Masjid demolition.
The Congress efforts come as estimates show a sharp decline in the welfare programs for Muslims.
“Despite the government’s publicized support for the Sachar Committee Report’s recommendations to increase diversity in public spaces and to ensure the minorities’ proportionate benefits from mainstream institutions, the government’s record is notably lackluster,” said a new paper cited by The Hindu.
Titled, “Six Years After Sachar: A Review of Inclusive Policies in India,” the paper was prepared by economist and chief scholar at the US-India Policy Institute Abusaleh Shariff.
It said that Muslims had almost no presence in the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.
There are some 140 million Muslims in Hindu-majority India and they have long complained of being discriminated against in all walks of life.
Muslims complain of decades of social and economic neglect and oppression.
Official figures reveal Muslims log lower educational levels and higher unemployment rates than the Hindu majority and other minorities like Christians and Sikhs.
They account for less than seven percent of public service employees, only five percent of railways workers, around four percent of banking employees and there are only 29,000 Muslims in India's 1.3 million-strong military.
Source: OnIslam.net
