AAP asks Maha legislators to shun petty politics focus on important issues

Mumbai, Mar 10: With the Maharashtra Legislature Budget session underway, the AAP's state unit on Tuesday expressed hope that legislators cutting across party lines will focus on important issues instead of indulging in petty politics.

"The drought relief announced by Maharashtra government despite tall promises hasn't reached all affected farmers till now. The unseasonal rainfall recently wrecked havoc across rural Maharashtra, adversely affecting crops and the resultant agricultural produce," AAP's Maharashtra unit convener Subhash Ware said.

"Farmers desperately need government aid and AAP has repeatedly asked the government to act swiftly in this regard. AAP has been repeatedly raising farmers' issues in the state, including adequate compensation, insurance schemes financed by the state and loans for farmers so as to facilitate farming activity for the upcoming sowing season," he said.

"It is shameful that the killers of (CPI leader) Govind Pansare and (rationalist) Dr Narendra Dabholkar are still at large, with investigative agencies still unable to crack the cases. The government needs to get its act together and uphold the rule of law and restore aam aadmi's faith in the state's ability to maintain law and order," he said.

On the issue of reservation for Muslims, Ware said, "The Sachar committee report has clearly shown us that there is large scale backwardness, both socially and educationally, among the Muslim community."

"By the principle of equal opportunity to all, it is therefore imperative that socially backward groups within the Muslim community be given a special opportunity. The Constitution disallows reservation based on religion," he said.

It is important that backward social groups/ castes within the Muslim community be identified, given caste certificates and be provided reservation in their respective backward categories, he said.

The High Court in its ruling on the Maratha-Muslim reservation by the Maharashtra government had faulted the government's decision on quota, but upheld the government's decision on providing socio-economically backward Muslims with reservation in education, he said.

"We must find a constitutional basis for the same. The Muslim community has been battling poverty, lack of education and political exploitation. Instead of dispensing justice towards them, the Maharashtra government has espoused traditional communal politics and hasn't pursued the issue aggressively," the AAP leader said.

PTI