CHENNAI: Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami’s pre-poll gesture to drop cases against people who were involved in the anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) protests may have come as a relief to the minority community, but for most of them, pandemic-driven unemployment will still be the burning issue in this year’s Assembly elections.
As many of them wait patiently for the court procedure to takes its course, they feel that though the CAA movement had coagulated their opinions, they are more concerned about how the new government will focus on offering a favourable climate for employment.
Echoing their opinion, an Arabic professor, KMA Ahmed Zubair, said due to lack of opportunities here, middle-aged persons and youngsters migrated to countries in West Asia to take up unskilled and semi-skilled jobs, while a section of Muslims from Ilayangudi (Sivaganga), Kayilpattinam (Thoothukudi), and Keelakari (Ramanathapuram) went to work in road-side eateries in Malaysia, Thailand, and Bangkok.
Offering a solution to the problems of Muslims, another academician demanded that the government implement recommendations of the Sachar committee, set up in 2005 to study the social, economic, and educational condition of Muslims.
The panel, headed by the former chief justice of Delhi High Court, Rajinder Sachar, had recommended steps to improve the employment share of Muslims that included the setting up of the ‘Equal Opportunity Commission’ to check discrimination of minority communities in jobs and education.
One cannot, however, completely ignore the impact of the CAA protests on the State’s political landscape. Though there is a view that the issue may not be so significant in the upcoming elections, there is still a hesitation in accepting the BJP’s alliance with the ruling AIADMK.
In fact, two days ago, when Vaniyambadi MLA, Nilofer Kafeel, visited her constituency for a campaign, she was reportedly requested by a member of a mosque that her campaign vehicles display only the AIADMK flags, and not those of its saffron ally.