MVA allies struggle for consensus: Will check if Muslim quota is legally valid, says CM

Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday said a decision on providing reservation in education to Muslims will be taken on the basis of legal validity

Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday said a decision on providing reservation in education to Muslims will be taken on the basis of legal validity and that there was no such proposal before him.

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Thackeray’s statement adds to the list of issues the Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress — the three parties comprising the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government — are having differences on.

The three ruling parties are yet to reach a consensus on the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and National Population Register (NPR).

The Sena chief’s statement came a few days after the state’s minority affairs minister Nawab Malik, who is from the NCP, declared that the state government will provide 5% quota to Muslims in educational institutions.

Sena minister Eknath Shinde, too, had indicated that Sena was in favour of the decision.

However, following criticism by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and several Hindu outfits, Thackeray said, “There’s no proposal before the government on providing reservation to Muslims. We will have to check its legal validity.”

“The decision of providing reservation to Maratha community is still in court and we are working to get it approved,” added the chief minister.

He also lashed out at critics, telling them not to waste energy now and to keep it when the government will take any such decision.

The Congress-NCP government had in June 2014 announced 16% reservation for Marathas and 5% for Muslims in education and government jobs. Later, the HC stayed the government decision, but said that Muslims could be given reservation in education. The BJP-led government that came to power the same year chose not to continue with the reservation after the ordinance lapsed in December 2014, saying it was not in favour of quota on the basis of religion.

The MVA is already facing unease over implementing CAA and NPR. Ignoring objections raised by the allies, Thackeray has extended his support to CAA, saying that it will not strip anyone’s citizenship.

Meanwhile, to resolve the issue of implementing CAA and NPR, Thackeray has now declared setting up a committee comprising senior leaders from all three parties to discuss concerns.

“My stand is clear. We have decided to form a committee of senior leaders from all the parties to discuss the issues related to NRC [National Register of Citizens] and NPR.” the chief minister said, adding, “I will not allow anyone to strip citizenship of any citizens of my state.”

The announcement has come more than a week after Thackeray in Delhi had not opposed NPR, but said they would prefer scrutiny. “NPR is proposed along with the census. It happened in 2010 too. Census happens after every 10 years in our country. If there are new columns proposed in the NPR, they will be scrutinised by our government and if it seems problematic we won’t take it ahead,” Thackeray has said.

The issue may not be resolved soon as it was already discussed in a coordination committee meeting held last week. The issues over CAA and NPR were also discussed in a meeting, but they could not reach a consensus.

A closed-door meeting was held at Varsha, official residence of the chief minister, on February 22, between Thackeray, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, state NCP president Jayant Patil and Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut

Leader of Opposition and former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis took a dig at the government for the differences within on Muslim reservation. “Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray spoke in different language over the reservation to the Muslim community. The difference of opinion between a minister and head of the ministerial council is surprising,” he said, while speaking to media. Fadnavis said that if the Muslims are given reservation, as announced by Malik, it will affect reservation given to Marathas.

Former finance minister and senior BJP leader Sudhir Mungantiwar said his party will back Sena. He said that his party was of the view that reservation cannot be offered on the basis of religion. “Sena is talking about the constitutional provision and their stand is absolutely correct. Our three-decade-old alliance with the Sena was on the basis of common ideology. But the Sena should not come under pressure from the Congress and NCP over Muslim quota. If the situation rises, we will support the government within the limits of this subject,” he said, outside Vidhan Bhavan.

Malik, who is also Mumbai’s NCP unit chief, denied having any differences with Sena on the issue. “We are yet to place the proposal before the cabinet after taking a legal opinion from law and judiciary department. It is a fact that there is no proposal before the cabinet at present. There is no difference within the government on the issue,” he said.

Political expert Pratap Aasbe said that with the statement it appears that the chief minister wants to see the pros and cons of the decision before reaching to a conclusion. “The three parties had differences of opinion before forming the government, but now they are resolving them by holding discussions,” he said.