Sharad Pawar, who is also head of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), said several Muslims had met him to voice their concerns.
He called on the minister of state for housing in the Congress led Democratic Front government in Maharashtra to help those affected.
Pawar was speaking at a function on Thursday to congratulate Ganesh Naik, the minister for excise, for leading the NCP to a clean sweep victory in the recently held polls for seats at the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC).
“It is best for society if people belonging to different religions come together and reside in one place and this is the specialty of people living in cosmopolitan Mumbai,” he said.
“There are several problems that confront different sections of people in Mumbai. And it is the cosmopolitan status of Mumbai that gives a guarantee of dignified living conditions for any citizen.”
However, if a secular approach to this problem is not maintained, then the cosmopolitan face of Mumbai will be destroyed, he claimed
Therefore the NCP is prepared to pay any price to maintain the pride and dignity of Mumbai, Pawar added.
“The importance of Maharashtra and Marathi people in Mumbai cannot be ignored. This image has to be maintained at all costs. But migrants from other parts of the country should also get priority.”
In an attack on the Sena-BJP alliance, which rules the Bombay Municipal Corporation, Pawar asked party workers to work hard to break up the coalition he says has failed to provide better civic facilities for the people over the past 15 years.
