Kolkata, Jan 21 (PTI) Indian Secular Front (ISF) chief Naushad Siddique on Wednesday accused the Mamata Banerjee government of not being serious about the uplift of minority communities in West Bengal
and of "playing with their future".
Addressing the foundation day programme of the ISF here, Siddique said no genuine resident holding valid residential documents should be victimised in the name of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise and voiced apprehension that the process was also targeting members of minority communities who have been living in the state for generations.
Accusing the TMC of 'doublespeak' on the issue of minority welfare and development and not being serious, he said, "Not all real Dalits have come under state reservation benefits."
Alleging that fake SC/ST certificates have been issued by the ruling dispensation, he said, "If the ISF ever gets the chance to have a say in the government in future, it would ensure that all those entitled to reservation benefits received them."
He said there are over one crore adivasis in the state and expressed concern that many "real adivasis" were left out when over 1.6 crore SC/ST certificates were distributed.
Siddique said underprivileged Muslims who deserve to be included under the OBC quota should be brought within its purview, adding that the ISF favours extending the benefit to 10 per cent of such people.
Referring to the Supreme Court’s stay on an earlier Calcutta High Court order striking down the inclusion of 77 communities as OBCs under the 2012 Act, Siddique noted that the apex court’s order has allowed the state’s revised lists to continue for now as the matter is still under hearing.
About the SIR exercise, he said genuine citizens are being harassed and neither the BJP nor the CPI(M) are doing anything about it.
"There is an attempt to terrorise the ordinary electorate in the name of SIR. People who have all valid documents and living in the country for ages are called for hearings and asked to submit documents unnecessarily. ISF will launch protests if the harassment continues. We are not against SIR, but it's hasty and inconsistent implementation by the EC at the instigation of BJP," he said.
He further alleged that the TMC was not serious about preventing the deletion of genuine voters’ names, despite its public posturing.
"Mamata Banerjee initially said she would not allow SIR, but did little to stop the exercise," Siddique said.
The Bhangar MLA also criticised what he described as the "witch-hunting and attacks on Bengali-speaking migrants, many of them Muslims", in different parts of the country, and urged the Centre, state governments and the West Bengal government to take effective steps to stop such incidents.
He also demanded the scrapping of the Waqf (Amendment) Act and asked the members of his party "not to fall prey to the provocation of TMC leaders and activists in their respective areas, including Bhangar." PTI SUS MNB
