Blaming the UPA for its “hesitant and tokenist” approach in implementing the recommendations of the Sachar Committee report, the CPI(M) on Monday said immediate steps should be taken in the fields of education and credit disbursal to improve the lot of the Muslims. The party said the demand of the Dalit Muslims and Dalit Christians for reservation should be looked into as it is in line with the “inclusive approach” towards weaker sections.

“The record of the UPA Government is extremely disappointing, especially in implementing the Sachar panel recommendations on education and credit for Muslims,” CPI(M) Politburo member Brinda Karat and party’s deputy leader in Lok Sabha Mohd Salim said. They said the Muslims are sandwiched between the UPA’s “hesitant and tokenist approach” and the BJP’s opposition of “any affirmative action” on the Sachar panel report.

Describing the BJP’s opposition to the Sachar panel as “highly condemnable”, she said the party was continuing to “shamelessly level the minority appeasement charge and seeking to destabilise social harmony by opposing implementation of the recommendations”.

Demanding urgent and concrete steps for the implementation of the recommendations, Karat said the Government’s record in this regard was also to “mislead Parliament and the public”.

Referring to the education sector, she said the 2006 budget promise of 20,000 scholarships for Muslim students was yet to materialise, according to the Government statements in Parliament. “This is a very serious matter as it makes a mockery of the Government’s attitude towards the Sachar Committee recommendations.”

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