In what is seen as a dig at its ally Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president and Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on Thursday warned “secular parties'' against taking the minorities for granted.
Addressing a function organised by the minority cell of his party here, Mr. Pawar said “his was a not a big party with 150 years of experience but some big parties tend to take the minorities for granted in the belief that they would not go along with the Bharatiya Janata Party or Shiv Sena.''
“But if such attitude gains ground among secular parties it leads to ignoring the genuine problems of the minorities. This approach is wrong and if it persists, it will turn away the concerned community.''
Mr. Pawarsaid that Justice Ranganath Misra's report on the religious and linguistic minorities has not been implemented.
The report recommends 15 per cent reservation for minorities in education and employment.
While underlining the initiatives taken by the government to make education and housing more accessible to minorities, Mr. Pawar stressed that implementation should be properly done. “Our job is not done merely by sanctioning funds to States. We have to ensure that they are utilised for the purpose they are meant.''
He said the Maharashtra government, in which the NCP is a coalition partner, has moved a proposal for reservation for minorities in the housing sector.
Asked to comment on Mr. Pawar's observations, chairman of the Congress Media Cell Janardhan Dwivedi said, “We do not comment on our allies.''
