Amid a raging controversy over Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and Home Minister Devendra Fadnavis' statement on "love jihad" and "vote jihad," the NCP National President and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Thursday announced that his party would give 10 per cent seats from its quota to Muslim community members in the upcoming Assembly elections.
The NCP has demanded at least 60 seats in the Mahayuti hinting that the party will not settle for less than that.
"The NCP will give 10 per cent seats to the Muslim community in the Assembly election. If the party gets 100 seats, it will nominate Muslim community members on 10 seats," said Ajit Pawar in Baramati.
He has thereby indicated that the NCP has not distanced itself from its secular credentials despite joining the Mahayuti.
The junior Pawar also made a bold decision to play the 'Muslim card' especially after facing backlash during the Lok Sabha elections as Muslims, Dalits and tribals voted against the NCP and the Mahayuti in general, fearing that their quotas would be cancelled and the Constitution would be changed if the BJP wins 400 plus seats.
Ajit Pawar's move came when BJP and Shiv Sena were toying with the idea of flagging up Hindutva to checkmate the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena.
Further, the BJP proposes to appeal to its core base with issues such as "love jihad" and "vote jihad" after Fadnavis made claims in this regard during a public meeting on Monday.
Referring to "love jihad" Fadnavis pointed out instances wherein women were tricked into inter-faith marriage and subsequently abandoned after they gave birth.
Referring to "vote jihad" Fadnavis mentioned the outcome in the Dhule Lok Sabha constituency where the Maha Vikas Aghadi nominee won on account of "en masse voting in the Malegaon Central Assembly segment against the BJP candidate in the fray."
Ajit Pawar, who reiterates that although he is currently a key ally in the Mahayuti, he has not left the thoughts of Shivaji Maharaj, Mahatma Phule, Chhatrapati Shahu and BR Ambedkar, also hinted that the party would not tolerate any attempt to divide Hindu and Muslim communities and attack on any particular community, caste, religion or creed in the run-up to the Assembly elections.
In his address during the Jansanman Yatra in Beed district on Tuesday, he added that the NCP was committed to welfare of all sections of society, transcending caste, religion, region and language.
Pawar's announcement comes at a time when the BJP, Shiv Sena and NCP are engaged in hard negotiations over seat sharing for the Assembly elections and also after the two-day Mumbai visit of Union Home Minister, Amit Shah.
Pawar has already objected to some statements made by BJP legislator Nitesh Rane saying that he has already raised the issue with the BJP's top leadership conveying his strong displeasure.
Interestingly, NCP gives credit to its President Ajit Pawar, who holds the planning and finance departments, for taking a slew of decisions for the safety of minority communities and their inclusion in the mainstream.
The party has claimed that it was because of Ajit Pawar that the share capital of the state-run Maulana Azad Corporation increased to Rs 500 crore and a substantial hike was given in the scholarships for higher studies in foreign countries.
The NCP has been aggressively pitching for political reservation for the Muslim community.
In June this year, the party at one of its meetings passed a resolution proposing a 5 per cent quota for the Muslim community's education.
However, it subsequently backtracked with the state party chief Sunil Tatkare saying that it will speak to stakeholders and later declare its stand.
(Sanjay Jog can be reached at sanjay.j@ians.in)
(With inputs from IANS)
