"BJP govt is anti-Muslim", says AIMIM leader Waris Pathan after Maharashtra scraps 2014 GR on 5% reservation

Reacting to the move on Thursday, Pathan said, "This shows that the BJP government is anti-Muslim, anti-minority... Before 2014, when the Congress was in power, it issued an ordinance for 5% reservation. It was also their fault that the law was not finalised. The matter went to the High Court. The High Court said that Muslims should be given 5% reservation in education. When I was an MLA, I raised this issue in every session... but the government did not give it. The BJP government rejected this reservation ordinance. I strongly condemn this... This shows the government's thinking that it is an anti-Muslim government..."

Meanwhile, the Maharashtra government's social justice department on Tuesday issued a government resolution (GR) and cancelled its earlier resolution of granting 5% reservation to the Muslim community for educational institutions and government and semi-government jobs, a provision that had been legally invalidated over a decade ago.

The Reservation, introduced in July 2014 through an ordinance, classified Muslims under the Special Backwards Class-A (SBC-A) category and applied to government jobs and educational institutions. However, the ordinance was challenged in the Mumbai High Court, which stayed it on November 14, 2014.

Since the ordinance was not enacted into law by the Maharashtra legislature by the December 23, 2014, deadline, it lapsed automatically. The Supreme Court later cancelled the reservation while deciding a Special Leave Petition (SLP) against the Bombay High Court order, effectively invalidating the provision.

Despite the lapse of the ordinance and the Supreme Court's order, the Maharashtra government had not formally cancelled the original GR through any official order until now. (ANI)