SP state President Akhilesh Yadav also claimed that all sections of the society, including farmers and workers, were disappointed with the state government.
Campaigning ended on Wednesday evening for 102 Lok Sabha seats across 21 states and Union territories which will go to polls in the first phase on April 19 with top leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance and the opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) making a last-gasp effort to woo voters.
'Our children score very high marks, but do not get admission in good colleges. They get top rank, but they do not get jobs because they belong to the so-called forward caste.' 'What can we do when a boy or girl from the community with first rank is considered only at the 6th or 7th position for a government job just because those with reservation get precedence over us?'
Though electoral verdicts have historically been accepted, even though grudgingly, by all parties, there has been a sharper edge to the questions being raised by Opposition parties this time over the polling process, including the Election Commission.
Haryana assembly on Tuesday unanimously passed a bill to provide reservation to Jats and five other communities in government jobs and educational institutions
Adityanath said there was no discrimination in the schemes being run by the central government and they were meant for the welfare of all including Dalits and backwards.
SC for status quo on AP reservation for Muslims
Senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan, representing the Muslim parties in the case, tore up a pictorial map.
Hitting out at AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi, Shiv Sena on Tuesday said that the minority leader should go to Pakistan and try his antics there.
Wajahat Habibullah, chairperson, National Commission for Minorities, speaks to Kavita Chowdhury on reservation for Muslims, the RTI Act and the controversy over withdrawal of AFSPA in Kashmir.
In Phase 6, indications are that the BJP, which is defending 40 seats, will lose in double digits and gain in single digits. Not good, if you are the ruling party scrambling to earn a working majority, with just one phase left to go, argues Prem Panicker.
Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi's stand that AMU is not a minority university reveals the anti-minority stand of the political party now in power, says Mohammad Sajjad, outlining the long history behind one of India's premier universities.
After lying low for some time now, veteran congress leader Arjun Singh, who created a nationwide furore after asking for reservation for backward class students in higher education, is once again out to create trouble for the party leadership.
Raising a new demand on the women's bill, the Samajwadi Party on Monday sought a 50 per cent quota for women in educational institutes as well as government jobs. The demand was made by Mulayam Singh Yadav, who has already called for "reservation within reservation" for Muslim women and backward classes in the Women's Reservation Bill.
'This is India, bhai. This kind of country does not exist anywhere in the world.'
'If we want real democracy, the economy itself will need to be democratised.'
Slamming the women's reservation bill as a "dangerous" one, Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav alleged on Sunday that it was a conspiracy to prevent Muslims, backwards and Dalits from entering Parliament and state assemblies.
According to insiders, their lack of enthusiasm is showing on the ground. There is nothing to suggest that their enthusiasm will return in the final four phases of polling, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Union minister Beni Prasad Verma on Saturday justified the sub-quota within quota for Muslims saying their condition was even worse than backwards.
Dr Reddy has also cleared a proposal for a centre to provide training and guidance to meritorious minority youth both in civil services and other higher echelons.
'The party has been advocating reservation to all socially and educationally backwards irrespective of any religion," party spokesman Satyavrat Chaturvedi told reporters at the AICC briefing.
If Muslims back Mayawati, nothing can stop her from forming the next government in UP.
After a spirited eight-hour debate in which 60 members participated, the Lok Sabha passed the Constitution (128th Amendment) Bill, with 454 members voting in favour and two against it.
The high court passed the order while hearing a petition challenging the constitutional validity of The Haryana Backward Classes (reservation in services and admission in educational institutions) Act 2016 that was passed unanimously by the state assembly on March 29.
Sources in the Special Cell said that now arrests are likely to follow across the country.
Various Maratha organisations had held massive 'silent marches' across the state last year for various demands, including reservation.
Bharatiya Janata Party leader Amit Shah on Tuesday said his party would oppose reservation on the basis of religion and attacked Samajwadi Party saying it could not handle Uttar Pradesh but was dreaming of ruling the country.
In the five years in politics Priyanka Gandhi has undeniably emerged as a thorn in the BJP flesh, notes Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay. It is time that this thorn is twisted a wee bit more when the elections have become far more uncertain than what it was when the Election Commission announced the poll schedule.
The bench had made it clear that it would examine whether the practice of triple talaq among Muslims is fundamental to their religion.
At the core of Nitish Kumar's decision was a cold political calculation. He assessed that the RJD's support base was unlikely to vote for JD-U candidates in the Lok Sabha polls. He was unsure of winning even half a dozen if he stayed with the RJD and the Congress.
After much flip-flop, the Congress decided to form an alliance with the Bharat Adivasi Party (BAP) and the two parties fielded their joint candidate -- Rajkumar Roat. However, the Congress candidate, Arvind Damor, whose name was announced before the stitching of the alliance, has refused to withdraw his nomination.
Asaduddin Owaisi said that the high court judgment was a big set back for the Muslim community. "it is a huge disappointment to the Muslim boys and girls who were dreaming a better future because of this 4 per cent quota. Now what will happen to their aspirations".
The 24 page manifesto promises 10 per cent job reservation to backward Muslims.
There are lessons for the Congress to learn from the Karnataka elections of how burying the hatchet among top leaders and not washing dirty linen in public can help, says Ramesh Menon.
The Andhra Pradesh government has promulgated an ordinance providing four per cent reservation to 15 socially and educationally backward groups among Muslims in professional educational institutions and public employment.
Leaders of the coordination committee of Muslim organisations, at a press conference held at Delhi on Tuesday, rejected the proposal to have a sub-quota of 3 per cent for them, to be carved out of the 27 per cent reservation earmarked for the Other Backward Classes.
Several Muslim organisations have disfavoured the women's reservation bill in its present form and demanded that the government take up the measure only if it provides for a quota within quota to women belonging to Muslim, Dalit and Other Backward Class communities.
A right wing organisation on opposed the reservation for Marathas and Muslims approved by the Maharashtra Cabinet.
Rakhi Singh has accused the Muslim side of destroying Hindu symbols on the Gyanvapi premises and demanded protection of the entire complex in order to ensure that these symbols are not lost.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday asked the Samajwadi Party how it could demand reservation for Muslims in government jobs while opposing quota for SC/ST promotion and cautioned that this may lead to the demand for reservation on religious lines in Parliament and state Assemblies as well.
