The Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA government has been pursuing the policy of minority appeasement right from the start and the recent statement by its cabinet minister only re-emphasized the same. Aslam Shaikh, a cabinet minister in the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government assured that the government is committed to Muslim reservation and they’ll announce their decision regarding the same in a few days.

Reacting to SP leader Abu Azmi's demand, Maharashtra minister Aslam Shaikh says, "We are committed to giving Muslim reservation. In the coming days, decisions related to this will be taken." He also says, "There's protest in the state over CAA-NRC so no point in talking about it"

— ANI (@ANI) March 1, 2021

A SwarajyaMag report on the matter quoting cabinet minister Aslam Shaikh says:

“We are committed to giving Muslim reservation. In the coming days, decisions related to this will be taken,”  he was quoted as saying by ANI.

Shaikh is the state cabinet minister for textiles, port, and fisheries. He is a member of the Congress party.

Shaikh said this is response to the demonstration by the leaders of the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi’s partner Samajwadi Party today.

Abu Azmi, a Samajwadi Party leader in Maharashtra, asked the state government to pass a law on 5 per cent Muslim reservation. He says he’ll take to streets against state govt if it fails to do it. He also demanded that the government bring resolution against CAA-NRC in ongoing assembly session.

“There’s protest in the state over CAA-NRC so no point in talking about it,” Shaikh said in response.

Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition was formed after the 2019 Maharashtra Legislative Assembly election under the leadership of Sharad Pawar of the NCP, Uddhav Thackeray of Shiv Sena and Sonia Gandhi of the INC, with Thackeray as the chief minister.

This yet again proves that MVA has been plumbing new secularism lows with each passing day and there is a concerted effort to pander to the minorities in general and Muslims in particular. While the Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA, particularly NCP Supremo Sharad Pawar, has been dilly-dallying and remained non-committal about Maratha reservations, for which it criticized former BJP CM Devendra Fadnavis, it has lost no time in assuring reservations for Muslims in a classic display of minority pandering and vote-bank politics.