Chief minister Mamata Banerjee may be claiming at various government functions that 99% of the work she intended to do for minority communities in the state has been done. But new voices are adding to the chorus that hardly anything had been achieved.
On Saturday, the newly formed West Bengal Minority Development Council (WBMDC) termed her claims as “eyewash” and said her promises have remained on paper.
Alleging Mamata had not even done 9%, forget 99%, Mohammad Parvez Qureshi, general secretary of the council, said: “Mamata had made a lot of promises, but the fact remains that the situation on the ground is still the same. Whether it’s education, housing or employment, nothing has changed for the minorities. Where is the parivartan?”
Earlier last month, influential Muslim leader, Peerzada Toha Siddique, had termed Banerjee’s claims of working for minorities a lie.
His was one of the first voices to assert in public that hardly any of Banerjee’s promises of improving the plight of the minorities, especially Muslims, had been realised on the ground.
“We want 20% reservation for minorities in government jobs and setting up of health infrastructure in Muslim-dominated areas,” the director of Furfura Darbar Sharif in Hooghly had said while addressing madarsa students on January 16.
{{/usCountry}}“We want 20% reservation for minorities in government jobs and setting up of health infrastructure in Muslim-dominated areas,” the director of Furfura Darbar Sharif in Hooghly had said while addressing madarsa students on January 16.
{{/usCountry}}Denying that the government had kept the promises it made to the community, which formed the backbone of her sweeping victory in May 2011, WBMDC president Khalid Ebadullah urged the government to take immediate steps to implement various central government schemes for the welfare of minorities or it will lead a non-violent street agitation to force the government into action.