Jains declared as minority community in West Bengal

Calcutta, Dec. 13: The Assembly today passed a bill that will empower the government to declare the Jain community a religious minority.

“From now on, if the government considers it important to give any community minority status on the basis of religion, it can do so by only issuing a notification. This means the government will no longer have to drag the matter to the Assembly,” minority affairs minister Abdus Sattar told the House.

However, Opposition legislators dubbed the West Bengal Minorities’ Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2007, “a bait” for minority voters.

“The government has chosen to clear the bill because it will consolidate its vote bank among the minorities in next year’s panchayat polls. Minorities were attacked and killed in Nandigram. So the move will help the government improve relations with the communities,” said Asish Banerjee of the Trinamul Congress.

Sattar rubbished the argument, saying Jains constituted only 0.07 per cent of the state’s population and there was no question of “building a vote bank”. The minister also denied any instance of torture on minorities in Nandigram.