Supriya Sule raises issue of reservation of Dhangars in Lok Sabha

Mumbai: The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MP Supriya Sule on Thursday raised the issue of reservation for the Dhangars in Lok Sabha. She argued that the community has not received reservation under the Scheduled Tribe category only because of a spelling error. While the Dhangad community has received reservation, the same community, which is called Dhangar in Maharashtra, has been denied reservation in the state.

The NCP MP also added that since the ruling party had promised to grant reservation to the Dhangars, it should now fulfil its promise.

The Dhangar community has been demanding that it be included under the Scheduled Tribes category and the BJP had promised that it would take a decision on this after coming to power. However, even after four years in power, the BJP-led government has yet to incorporate the community into the ST category.

In a tweet, Ms. Sule said that she has raised the need to include the Dhangar community of Maharashtra in the Scheduled Tribes list in matters under Rule 377. In 1966 and 1971, the Maharashtra government had sent a proposal to the central government to include the Dhanagar community in the ST category.

During the winter session, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had told the legislative council that the state government would complete all constitutional provisions for the reservation of the Dhangars before the code of conduct for the Lok Sabha elections comes into force. He had also said that he would also seek the opposition’s help when  sending the proposal to the Centre.