MUMBAI/NAGPUR, 29 November 2007 — The hard-line Hindu Mahasabha Party launched a protest against the proposed implementation of the Sachar and Srikrishna Commission recommendations by staging a rally in Mumbai. Party President Vikram Savarkar said his party would launch agitation throughout the country soon.
According to Savarkar, the government wants to appease Muslims by trying to implement the recommendations of the two commissions. Savarkar criticized the Bharatiya Janata Party, saying the party’s policy on the issue demonstrated its double standard.
Shiv Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray said the implementation of the Sachar and Srikrishna panel recommendations would create divisions in society.
The Sena, Uddhav said, would ensure that all decisions taken to appease Muslims and implement the Sachar and Srikrishna panel recommendations would be foiled.
“As citizens of the country, Muslims have all the opportunities to progress and prosper. The government, nevertheless, is giving undue importance to the two panels’ recommendations and wants to implement them,” Uddhav said and warned the government against implementing them.
State Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh told the State Legislative Council in Nagpur on Tuesday that the state government would implement the recommendations of the two panels and also set up an independent minority welfare department.
The Maharashtra government will conduct a survey to ascertain the socio-economic condition of Muslims in the state and constitute a study group composed of Muslim intellectuals and scholars.
Deshmukh said the state government would grant scholarships to Muslim students and provide them training in order to augment their skills. Muslims will also get representation on the selection committee for “Class One” and “Class Two” employees. They will also get representations in housing societies and plot allotments, Deshmukh told the upper house.
