Pawar’s baby is still born – State has no money for Muslim OBCs

MUMBAI, DEC 6: Sharad Pawar must be ruing the moment he made the promise of setting up a financial corporation exclusively for Muslim OBCs...

MUMBAI, DEC 6: Sharad Pawar must be ruing the moment he made the promise of setting up a financial corporation exclusively for Muslim OBCs at a meeting of Muslim activists in Aurangabad, a few days ahead of the elections. For, now, not only are the Muslims sore with him for the delay in setting up the corporation– which Pawar said would come up within a fortnight of his government coming to power– but it turns out that the Maratha’s pet project may never see the light of the day unless the government decides to the deplete the already empty state coffers.

Significantly, though at least five cabinet meetings were held after Vilasrao Deshmukh took over the reigns of the state, apparently, the proposal has not come up for discussion.

To be fair to Pawar, he had written a letter to the Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh on October 17, asking him to set up the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Financial Corporation to provide financial assistance and self-employment oppurtunies. However the proposal has run aground due to financial and legal constraints. As one government official pointed out: “ If the government is not in a position to provide funds for the corporation, then the basic purpose of setting it up will be defeated.”

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However, Shabbir Ansari, President of the All India Muslims OBC Organisation feels that the NCP is delaying the corporation since it feels threatened by the rise of the Muslim OBCs as a political force

In fact, at the recently held national level convention, the organisation not only came down heavily on the Democratic Front government, but also gave it an ultimatum to set up the corporation.

And adding twist to the controversy, the Social Welfare Department has strongly objected to the proposal on legal grounds. The department has taken the view that since four corporations– Mahatma Phuley Backward class Development Corporation, Lokshahir Annabhau Sathe Corporation, Maharashtra Leather Industries Development Corporation and Other Backward Class Financial Corporation, are already in place, it will be improper to set up another corporation exclusively for the Muslims or the members of the minority communities.

“The members of the scheduled caste, scheduled tribe, Muslims, OBC and such other communities are already benefitting from these corporations and as such, setting up a separate corporation for a particular religion will be against the principles of the constitution,” an official of the social welfare department contended.

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A senior NCP Minister admitted that there was inordinate delay in setting up the commission. “We will have to examine the views of the finance as well as social welfare department on setting up of a corporation and then act accordingly,” the Minister added.

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