Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar has said that members of the Muslim community have a feeling they were not getting their due share despite being a large part of the country’s population.
At an event organised by the Vidarbha Muslim Intellectuals Forum “Issues Before Indian Muslims”, Pawar noted that Muslims feeling this way was a reality, adding that “deliberations have to be held on how they can get their due share”.
NCP chief responded to an earlier speaker seeking the use of Urdu in government recruitment examinations and hailed the language and said several people are associated with it for generations.
“We should consider Urdu schools and education, but along with Urdu, we have to consider about the main language of a state,” he said.
The Congres leader admitted that unemployment was an issue across all communities in India. However, minorities needed more attention in the matter and acknowledged that their complaints were genuine.
Kerala has a large proportion of minorities and one needs to study how minorities in that state, which has the highest literacy rate, are giving support to the main language and what benefits are being derived from this, he added.
Congress leader said the Muslim community can contribute hugely in the fields of art, poetry, and writing through Urdu. The members of the community have “quality and capacity” but need “support and equal opportunity,” he added.
Pawar is president of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), which he founded in 1999, after separating from the Indian National Congress.
He is the patriarch of one of Maharashtra’s most influential political family and a prominent face in Maharashtra politics. He is the oldest and senior most member of Pawar political dynastic family of Maharashtra.
In 2017, Pawar was honored with the Padma Vibhushan, India’s second highest civilian award, on the recommendation of the Narendra Modi-led BJP government. The timing of the award was questioned by observers and some attributed it to political motivations of the BJP.