3 min readLucknowApr 21, 2015 12:00 AM IST
First published on: Apr 21, 2015 at 12:00 AM IST
The 18-point agenda of the GBM categorically mentions demand for restoration of five per cent reservation for Muslims and lifting of beef ban.
The Uttar Pradesh-based Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind (JUH) announced to launch a protest rally against the BJP-led Maharashtra government for its decisions such as beef ban and scrapping five per cent reservation to Muslims during its general body meeting to be held at Azad Maidan in Mumbai on April 26.
Bollywood director-producer Mahesh Bhatt, Hindu seer Acharya Pramod Krishnam and activist Swami Agnivesh have also consented to attend the meeting and extend their support to the movement, JUH leaders claimed.
The meeting would primarily focus on determining the future strategy for intensifying the agitation against the Devendra Fadnavis government.
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Maulana Mehmood Madani, general secretary JUH, said: “The issue of beef ban and scrapping reservation to Muslims will figure during the meeting. We are getting good support from all quarters and several other prominent non-Muslim leaders are expected to attend the event.”
Beef has been banned since March in Maharashtra after President Pranab Mukherjee gave his assent to the Maharashtra Animal Preservation (Amendment) Bill, 1995, nearly 19 years after the state Assembly passed the Bill during the BJP-Shiv Sena rule in 1995 which bans the slaughter of bulls as well as bullocks. The Maharashtra government had also scrapped five per cent reservation to Muslims in educational institutions.
The 18-point agenda of the GBM categorically mentions demand for restoration of five per cent reservation for Muslims and lifting of beef ban. “Both these issues have directly affected the Muslim community. We will raise our voice against it. It has affected us economically and will make our children educationally backward,” Maulana Hakimuddin Qasmi, national secretary of JUH claimed.
The other issues listed to be discussed in the meeting include raising awareness about the negative impact of Mumbai development plan, liquor prohibition, moral degradation in the society, womens’ rights and empowerment, defeating the ‘ghar wapsi campaign’ and religious conversion. “We take up issues which are for the betterment of the country. We will also discuss means to foster communal harmony between various communities in the country. We strive to uphold the secular fabric of our country,” Hakimuddin said.
The 18-point agenda of the GBM categorically mentions demand for restoration of five per cent reservation for Muslims and lifting of beef ban.
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