New Delhi: A plea has been made to Congress
President Sonia Gandhi to ensure representation of the 70-lakh
Sindhi community in Parliament by nomination on the lines of
that being given to the Anglo-Indians.
In a memorandum submitted to Gandhi, an organisation
representing the Sindhis claimed that if some arrangement for
them in the present political set up was not done, "Sindhis
will remain political orphans in their own country".
A delegation of the United Federation of Sindhi
Associations and Panchayats of India (UFSAPI), headed by
Maharashtra Congress spokesman Kanhaiyalal Gidwani requested
the UPA Chairperson that the community should be given four
members in the Lok Sabha, three in Rajya Sabha and four in
Legislative Councils in various states.
Noting that Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, UP,
Delhi, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Chhattisgarh are the states
were the Sindhis are in a sizable number, the Federation also
wanted a National Development Board for the Sindhis.
They claimed that 30 per cent of the Sindhis are still
living below poverty line in India. They also wanted setting
up of a "Sindhu Bhawan" in Delhi on the lines of state
bhawans.
Apart from Gidwani, former Judge of Rajasthan High Court
Justice J S Israni, Harish Dubey (Daryanani) and Nanakram
Ahuja, both General Secretaries of UFSAPI, comprised the over
50-member delegation.
"We have been rendered stateless in India... All we
request for is to be treated on par with other communities so
that we do not feel like outsiders in our own motherland," the
delegation told Gandhi, who promised them to look into the
matter, according to Gidwani.
PTI
