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Malegaon:
Maharashtra Minister of Textiles and Minority
Development Department Arif Naseem Khan on a brief visit to the
city Friday to address the All India Youth Congress convention kept complete
silence on the government's reluctance to grant
Malegaon a district status.
The minister also failed to satisfy
the people on why the state government is delaying a decision on
the revised electricity tariff for powerloom weavers as announced
by the Chief Minister a month ago. Even though he was given more
than a dozen memorandums demanding rollback of electricity tariff
hike, in effect since August 2012, immediately after his arrival
in the city and the issue that figured in the speeches of most of
the local leaders, he was unclear on the issue and just said a
decision on the matter is pending with the government. “A decision
on the electricity tariff hike is pending with the cabinet and the
outcome would be known very soon”, he said.
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Arif Naseem Khan |
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Maharashtra Minister of Textiles and Minority
Development Department Arif Naseem Khan on a brief visit to the
city Friday to address the All India Youth Congress convention kept complete
silence on the government's reluctance to grant
Malegaon a district status. |
Arif Naseem Khan also did not
comment a word on other issues listed for a discussion in the
convention including the demand to field five
Muslims in Maharashtra in the parliamentary elections,
special
package for the city as suggested by his own ministry and subsidy
for the textile industry.
He instead used the convention to
list the “good work” done by his government both at the centre and
the state in the past eight years and to seek votes for the party
in the next elections.
“The communal forces are up in arms
to destroy the secular fabric of the country. It is to check such
forces we have introduced the Communal violence bill in the
parliament”, he said while stating that the UPA government at the
centre has decided to pass the bill in this session and urged the
party workers to strengthen the Congress and defeat the communal
forces in coming elections.
As against Arif Naseem Khan, who was
totally out of the tune due to his inability to touch the local
issues, Rajive Satav, president of the All India Youth Congress,
an MLA from Kalamnuri in Maharashtra and one of the members of
Rahul Gandhi brigade, provided some respite to the party workers
gathered in a large number to see if the government had any
immediate plan to address the local issues.
Expressing surprise over the way the
government is keeping pending a decision on granting a district
status to Malegaon, much to the delight of the party workers, he
said, "I don’t see any reason
why the government should keep it pending any more. It should
decide on the matter while taking a decision on bifurcation of
Thane district and formation of new districts."
'Party workers
unconvinced'
The Youth Congress convention though attracted a good crowd,
it failed to convince most of the party workers who took a day off
for the much publicised meet.
“Leaders come and promise. But the condition for us remains the
same as the promises made by leaders never light of the day”, Abdul Haque
(35) said while talking to ummid.com after the convention.
72-year old Shaikh Sagiruddin was even more skeptical. “I have
spent my entire life in this city and have attended many
rallies that always had this demand. But, what else can one expect
from a government that cannot fulfil a demand repeated so many
times in last thirty years, ”, he said referring to the government’s refusal to grant a
district status for the city.
A large number of Congress leaders including MLA Sudhir Tambe,
Satyajit Gaikwad, former MLA Shaikh Rasheed, local Congress
President Shaikh Asif and other were present in the convention.
Preparations for the convention were on for the last one month.
But the convention which started at around 03:15 lasted for about
one-and half hour.
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