Nationalist Congress Party MP Supriya Sule said here on Sunday that the Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre had written a letter to her father and party chief Sharad Pawar ruling out the possibility of granting reservation to Maharashtra’s Dhangar community.
The Dhangar (shepherd) community, currently listed in the Nomadic Tribe (NT) category, has been demanding Scheduled Tribe status and had staged an agitation at Azad Maidan here in March.
“The new government is at the Centre for a year now. They have not taken a clear stand on the issue. Mr. Modi has written to Mr. Pawar saying it [reservation for the Dhangars] is not possible. It is really unfortunate. Common people have been taken for a ride. They put their faith in the BJP and voted in large numbers but this is yet another example of the government’s betrayal,” Ms. Sule said at a function.
The letter from the Ministry of Tribal Affairs dated May 14 states: “The proposal for inclusion of ‘Dhangar’ was referred to the government of Maharashtra for comments. The Maharashtra government has not supported the proposal.”
Agitation planned
Prakash Shendge, prominent NCP leader from the Dhangar community, said the letter had come as a shock. “Mr. Modi had given his assurance to us in Solapur while demanding the community’s support to elect him to power. Now one year on, we have been deceived. Earlier, Maharashtra scuttled the demand, but we had great hopes from Mr. Modi, which have been dashed. We are disappointed that the Centre and the State are merely passing the buck. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has said his government would pass a resolution in the Cabinet. We are going to launch a State-wide agitation and stage a march to the Vidhan Sabha in the next session,” he told The Hindu .
