BENGALURU: Farooq Junaidi, a 26-year-old software professional, undertook a padayatra from Kolar to Bengaluru to build support for the restoration of 2B reservation for the Muslim community.
The reservation was scrapped by the previous BJP government led by Basavaraj Bommai. Junaidi said that following the scrapping of reservation, many students from the community were deprived of pre-metric, post-metric and merit-based scholarships. The students who used to take loans and pursue higher studies abroad were also impacted, and in the long run, the community will suffer. This prompted him to undertake the padayatra.
Speaking to The New Indian Express, Junaidi, who is also president of Karnataka State Minorities Engineers Association, said, “I launched the padayatra seeking restoration of minority reservation under 2B category on February 24 from Kolar to Bengaluru, and also to create awareness about the reservation among community members.”
He is also planning to meet Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Deputy CM DK Shivakumar, Minority Welfare Minister BZ Zameer Ahmed Khan and the CM’s Political Secretary Naseer Ahmed, to give his representation.
He further added that not just the restoration of the 2B quota that gave 4 per cent reservation to Muslims, but enhancing it to 10 per cent, along with 7 per cent Super Numeric Quota (SNQ) in Engineering colleges will also be sought.