Click to play videoNew Delhi: The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) made electoral gains in places which have a substantial minority population and where the a report recommending welfare schemes for minorities was implemented.
An analysis of the Lok Sabha elections shows that the UPA won one fifth of its total seats and the Congress one fourth of its total seats in districts which have a significant population of minorities and where the government set out to implement the Justice Rajinder Sachar committee report’s recommendations.
The Government, on the basis of the report, identified 121 minority-concentration districts across the country and implemented the Prime Minister’s 15-point programme.
It worked on improving education, health and access to credits in the 121 districts.
Data with the Minority Affairs Ministry shows that in these 121 districts, the UPA won almost 50 seats and came second on 13 other.
In the 2004 general elections, the alliance had won only 14 of the same set of constituencies. Congress leader A R Antulay, who was the Minority Affairs Minister in the previous UPA government, ironically lost elections from the Raigarh constituency in Maharashtra.
Antulay spent lot of time in his constituency and the ministry was run by group of bureaucrats handpicked by the Prime Minister and headed by then Secretary M N Prasad.
“Such convergence as there is between the 15-point programme and people responding to it in deciding what kind of governance they want I would gratefully accept and say how wonderful,” says Minority Affairs Minister Salman Khursheed.
Congress leader Saifuddin Soz says people (minorities) realized that the government was serious about implementing the committee’s recommendations.
The Congress has been able to regain a foothold in the minority dominated areas of the Hindi heartland for the first time after 1992. The Congress has decided to fight assembly elections in UP and Bihar in the next three years without alliances.
The Sachar committee’s recommendations will surely be put to work in the two states again.
(For updates you can share with your friends, follow IBNLive on Facebook, Twitter and Google+)
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
|
displayed with permission. Use of the CNN name and/or logo on or as part of CNN-IBN does not derogate from the intellectual property rights of Cable News Network in respect of them.