Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi Sunday spoke to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and urged him to include Jains in the Centre’s minority list, reflecting a long-standing demand of the community. The Minority Ministry has already initiated a move to grant minority status to the Jain community. Sources said a Cabinet note has already been moved by the ministry. The five religious minorities currently recognised by the Centre under the National Commission for Minorities Act are Sikhs, Muslims, Christians, Parsis and Buddhists. The Jain community has, however, been notified as minority in as many as 11 states. Rahul spoke to the Prime Minister after a delegation of Jain leaders met him seeking his support for notification of the community as a minority community at the national level. “Rahul recognised the role played by the Jain community in the social, cultural and economic development of the country (and) assured the delegation that he would do his utmost to ensure fair and equitable recognition and representation for the Jain community,” the Congress said in a statement after his meeting with the delegation led by Union minister Pradeep Jain. Confirmation of national minority status will help the community access central funds and scholarships meant for the welfare of the minorities. The Minority Ministry’s move, however, has not gone down well with a section of the Muslim intelligentsia who feel expanding the list without an economic eligibility criterion or a model for better implementation may cause the Muslim community to lose out.
