Samajwadi Party's biggest pre-poll sop for minorities

Lucknow: A day after the Akhilesh Yadav government denied permission to the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) to carry out their 300 kilometre padyatra to the temple town of Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh, the state government has unleashed perhaps the biggest pro-minority sop of its regime.  

The Uttar Pradesh cabinet has granted its approval to a proposal to carve out 20 per cent of allocations for minorities in 85 welfare schemes of the state. These schemes are spread through 30 departments across the state.

Speaking to reporters, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav said that the party had promised in its manifesto that it will try to implement the recommendations of the Sacchar Committee report and the Ranganath Mishra Committee report and this decision is in tandem with the suggestions.

The chief minister, however, was silent on the issue of giving demographic-based reservations to Muslims, another controversial poll promise of the Samajwadi Party government.

To ensure that the minorities get 20 per cent benefit under the welfare schemes, the two committees - one under the chairmanship of the chief secretary and another at the district level headed by the District Magistrate - will be constituted to monitor the implementation of this rule. Two members of the minority community have will also be actively involved in the monitoring process.

This decision comes at a time when the state is witnessing an escalation of politics of polarisation, with Hindutva forces like the VHP once again raising the Ram temple issue.