NCP to woo Muslims with quota dreams

NCP leaders, who met in Mumbai on Saturday, admitted that the party failed to cash in on Sharad Pawar's (above) secular credentials and attract Muslims, who constituted 10% of the state's population

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) plans to enhance its reach among Muslims by assuring them of more representation in local and civic bodies, reservation in education and jobs, pre- and post-matric scholarships for students.

NCP leaders, who met here on Saturday, admitted that the party failed to cash in on Sharad Pawar's secular credentials and attract Muslims, who constituted 10 per cent of the state’s population.

The party plans to organise rallies in Muslim-dominated districts, including Nashik, Thane, Kolhapur, Beed, Aurangabad and other areas in the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls. Besides, NCP announced its support to the demand for Haj House at Aurangabad and Aligarh Univercity's centre in Maharashtra.

The party has been in favour of providing four per cent reservation to the Muslim community in education and jobs. It extended its support to 10 per cent reservation for the Maratha community.

State NCP chief Bhaskar Jadhav told Business Standard: “It has been our attempt to reach out to members of Muslim community. Of the six NCP members in the Rajya Sabha, two are from the community. There are two ministers in the state Cabinet and key posts such as president, vice-president and chairman are held in a couple of civic and local bodies. The party will do everything for the development of the community.”

NCP spokesman Nawab Malik said the presence of Muslims and other minorities could be increased in the party by giving them more representation in the local and civic bodies and also in the state and national politics.

''In addition to this, the pre- and post-matric scholarships be provided to students from the Muslim community on the lines those given to other backward classes. The state government can provide matching financial grants from its annual Budgets,'' he added.

The Mehmoodur Rehman Committee, which had submitted its report to the state government in October last year, had said only about 2.2 per cent of Muslims complete the graduation, and 1.4 per cent Muslim women reach the graduation. The work participation rate among the Muslims is 32 per cent and the women work participation is only 12.7 per cent.  Moreover, the committee has also found 59 per cent of Muslims in urban areas and 59.8 per cent in rural areas are living below the poverty line. The committee has also found about 25 per cent of the Muslim population is marginally above the poverty line.

Meanwhile, Pawar met party leaders from Buldhana and Madha parliamentary constituencies to select nominees. NCP has finalised 17 candidates of the 22 seats from its quota for the Lok Sabha polls. However, it was finding it difficult to finalise candidates for Buldhana, Madha, Beed, Hatkalangle and Amravati due to lack of consensus.

Pawar will continue his talks with party leaders on Sunday. He will also review the ground reports prepared by party representatives for 22 Lok Sabha seats. NCP will also put in place print, media and social media campaign strategy.