The differences between the Congress led UPA Government and the SP Government surfaced on Tuesday in broad day light when the state government refuted the claim of the centre that it has implemented 66 out of 72 recommendations of Sachchar Committee regarding the betterment of the Muslims.
This happened during the joint press conference of the Union Minister for Minority Affairs K.Rehman Khan and the Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav. The UP minister of Minority Welfare Mohammad Azam Khan and union minister of state for Minority Welfare Ninong Aring were also present in the press conference which was held soon after the review meeting between centre and the state regarding Minority Welfare.
As soon as K.Rehman Khan claimed that Centre has implemented 66 out of 72 recommendations of Sachchar Committee, his Uttar Pradesh counterpart Azam Khan said that unless the most vital recommendation of providing
reservation in jobs was not implemented, it will remain like a body without soul. Azam said that if centre was serious about providing reservation to the Muslims then it must bring the desired legislation and let it be decided who was against the move and who was in favour of it.
However the Union Minorty Welfare Minister said that he has not come to detect the shortcomings in the implementation of the schemes but wishes that both centre and state work in unison to improve the lot of minorities.
Noting that of a total of Rs 1,100 crore given to the state for minority welfare, 72 per cent had been spent, and remaining funds could not have been provided due to some technical reasons. He said that 13 lakhs muslims were getting scholarship in UP which was satisfactory yet needed improvement. As to education for Muslims, Khan mentioned a plan for six central minority universities to be established and revealed that the process of identifying sites for the same was on.
Khan also said that Centre was going to make Waqf laws more stern and bill to this effect will be brought before Parliament soon. "Waqf property must be treated as public property" he said. The Union Minister said that Waqf development corporation would be constituted with funds of Rs 500 crore which would explore the scope of commercial utilisation of the properties.
The UP CM Akhilesh Yadav made it clear that unless the Constitution was not being amended the reservation for the Muslims will remain a day dream. "I urge the Centre to take the initiative in this regard and the SP will provide its full cooperation in and outside the Parliament" he said adding that Uttar Pradesh was such a vast state that it must be treated as a nation whenever any scheme or project related with it comes under consideration.