New Delhi (The Hawk): In order to engage with state governments regarding petitions requesting the identification of minorities, including Hindus, at the state level, the federal government has requested additional time from the Supreme Court.
The 14 state governments—Punjab, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Manipur, Odisha, Uttarakhand, Nagaland, Gujarat, Goa, West Bengal, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu—as well as three union territories—Ladakh, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, and Daman & Diu, and Chandigarh—have provided their comments/views, according to a status report from the Ministry of Minority Affairs.
A reminder was sent to these states asking them to provide their thoughts as soon as possible so that the considered comments/views may be presented to the top court, it was said, as the comments/views of the other 19 state governments/UTS in the subject had not been received as of date.
The report, which was submitted in response to a PIL filed by attorney Ashwini Kumar Upadhya, stated: "That in view of the position stated above, it is humbly submitted that since the matter is sensitive in nature and will have far-reaching ramifications, this court may kindly consider allowing more time to enable the state governments/union territories and stakeholders with whom the consultative meetings have already been held, to finalise their considered views in the matter."
According to the ministry, the Center has held consultative meetings with all state governments and UTs as well as with other stakeholders, including the National Commission for Minorities (NCM), Ministry of Education, Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education, and Ministry of Home Affairs (NCMEI).
Before forming a thoughtful opinion on the topic, "several of the state governments/union territories have sought further time to have wider talks with all the stakeholders," it was said.
According to the ministry, state governments have been asked to expeditiously complete the exercise with stakeholders in light of the urgency of the situation in order to guarantee that the state government's views are finalised and communicated to the Ministry of Minority Affairs as soon as possible.
In order to have more extensive consultations with states and UTs over the identification of religious minorities, including Hindus, at the state level, the federal government requested further time from the Supreme Court in August.
The top court stated in May that the Centre is unsure and has not taken a firm stance on a request for a directive to it to establish standards for the identification of minorities at the state level, including Hindus.
The Supreme Court ruled that the Center should engage with the state governments before granting Hindus minority status in areas where they are outnumbered by other communities.
A prior affidavit from the ministry stated: "A religious or linguistic community may be designated as a minority community within a state by the state government. For instance, the Maharashtra government has declared Jews to be a minority group in the state."
(Inputs from Agencies)