Mulayam flays Cong for less Muslim rep in jobs

Lucknow, Nov 5: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav today criticised the Congress for allegedly ignoring the plight of Muslims leading to less representation of the community in goverment jobs.

Reacting to the views of the Justice Rajinder Sacchar Committee, Mr Yadav, without naming the Congress, said, ''Only that political party is to be blamed who has ruled the country for more than 47 years.'' It was the sole responsibility of the party which has ruled the country for a longer period, but they did not care for the minorities, he told mediapersons here.

The CM said it was unfortunate that even after 59 years of Independence, the minorities were still lagging behind in their socio-economic development.

Criticising both the Congress and the BJP for not allowing MPs to speak openly about their views on the minorities in Parliament, Mr Yadav said, ''There are several MPs who want to speak about them, but were refused permission by their party leadership.'' The Sacchar Committee had said the minority percentage in government jobs, including Defence and other sectors, was very less.

Commenting on the proposal to introduce the controversial women reservation Bill in the coming session of Parliament, former Defence minister said the SP would oppose it in its present form.

''We want political parties should be given responsibilities to implement the women quota rather than identifying seats for them,'' he said, adding, several political parties had also agreed to the proposal and the SP would not bow down from its demand.

UNI