Mumbai: Angry with major political parties for not nominating a single Muslim to the Maharashtra state council elections earlier this month, community leaders have announced the setting up of a group called 'The Muslim Pressure Group' to lobby for better representation in the government.
With the two Muslim members in the state's legislative council retiring this month, the upper house of the state legislature has no representative from the community.
The ruling Mahayuti won 9 of the 11 seats in the 78-member state legislative council, elections for which were held in July. The state has a bicameral legislature and most Members of the Legislative Council (MLCs) are elected by the legislative assembly which voters directly elect. The state's governor nominates some MLCs.
The ruling Mahayuti has announced that the posts of 12 nominated MLC seats vacant since June 2020 will be filled up before the elections to the legislative assembly scheduled later this year. The Maha Yuti has said they will nominate Muslims for some of these seats.
The group said that they are not associated with any political groups. Among its members are businessmen and religious clerics. Altaf Patel, a businessman who is a member of the group said Muslims had expected parties like Shiv Sena (UBT) and Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar), and the Congress, which won many seats in the last parliamentary elections because of substantial backing from the community, to nominate them in the state council elections.
"We have been made fools. The parties promised reservations (in jobs and educational institutions). We know that reservations based on religion will never happen. However, there are other ways the community can be helped," said Patel who added that many Muslim-populated areas face drug use-related crime, unemployment, and housing issues.
Apart from their absence from the state legislative council, none of the 48 Members of Parliament from the state are Muslims. The 288-member legislative assembly has 10 Muslims - a proportion that is much less than the 12-13% share in the state's population.
Apart from trying to increase Muslim representation in the state assembly and municipal corporation, the group will also look at addressing issues affecting the community. "The Muslim Pressure Group has been initiated. It is now receiving significant support from the public and notable figures. Our questions are being echoed by leaders of every political party and discussed by leaders, scholars, and social figures in Urdu newspapers. The popularity of the pressure group is such that more pressure groups are being formed in the city," said Shuiab Khatib, a trustee of Jama Masjid, the city's main mosque, and a member of the Muslim Pressure Group.
Patel said that they have received support from the community. He said that people from the city and suburbs have supported them and expressed their desire to work together. "We thank all of them, and if some people do not want to join us but support the questions and demands we raise by forming separate groups, we welcome them too. Our aim is good and noble, the reason why people are joining us. The biggest example of our success is that Maharashtra's Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar has promised to give a Muslim MLC this time.
The group has asked not-for-profit groups, community organisations, scholars, and well-wishers in the city, suburbs, Konkan, and Mumbra, to join them. Calls to set up similar organisations were made at a meeting last month in New Delhi attended by Jamaat-e-Islami (Hind) and journalists from the Urdu media. Speakers suggested a pressure group or a think tank to make political and social strategies for the community., including negotiating with political parties to give adequate representation according to their ratio in the population
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