NEW DELHI: The National Commission of Minorities (NCM) has constituted a three-member committee to examine if Hindus can be granted minority status in eight states. The move comes two months after the Supreme Court refused to entertain a plea on the issue.
In November last year, the apex court had said the issue needed to be decided by the NCM and had asked the petitioner to approach the commission.
he NCM Chairman, Syed Ghayorul Hasan Rizvi, confirmed the development and said, “Advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, who had filed a PIL in the Supreme Court, approached us with a plea on the issue, following which we constituted a committee which has three months to examine the issue and prepare a report on this. The report will be ready by March.”
The panel will be headed by NCM Vice Chairman George Kurian and will include NCM members Sulekha Kumbhare and S Manjit Singh Rai.
Upadhyay has sought minority status for Hindus in Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Lakshadweep, Mizoram, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur. The lawyer has contended that Hindus are in the minority in these states but their legitimate benefits are being given to the majority because of non-identification and non-notification of minorities at the state level.