In chaste Urdu, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao told the State’s Muslims that his government would defend the proposed 12% reservation for the community even in the Prime Minister’s Office in New Delhi.
The Chief Minister told the community at the government-sponsored Iftar at Lal Bahadur stadium here on Sunday that he had apprised the Prime Minister of the reservation bill during his last visit.
“He assured me that he will look into the bill and study it. But if there is any opposition we will respond strongly,” Mr Rao said, adding he was keen on keeping the promise he had made before the Assembly elections in 2014.
“In the face of any opposition we will not remain silent. We will fight for justice,” he said, drawing cheers from hundreds of community members. “I promise that reservation benefits which Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes get will also be extended to backward sections among the Muslims because they too live in utter poverty,” the Chief Minister said.
The State’s Legislative Assembly passed the bill titled Telangana Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes bill-2017, in April this year despite opposition from five Bharatiya Janata Party legislators.
Apart from increasing the existing 4% reservations for backward Muslims to 12%, the bill had also hiked the reservation percentage for Scheduled Tribes from 6 to 10, thereby taking the total quota for various sections beyond the statutory limit of 50 per cent.
The Chief Minister also announced the decision to set up an Islamic Centre in the city, similar to the one established in New Delhi. A total of 204 residential schools set up by government would educate 1.33 lakh Muslim students too, the Chief Minister said. Education provided by these institutions would be on a par with prestigious Christian missionary schools, he said.
“We are a State that will set an example for India. Here all the communities will progress together,” Mr. Rao said.
The Chief Minister also reiterated his commitment to increase Muslim representation in his governance. Apart from the Deputy Mayors of Hyderabad and Warangal and the Deputy Chief Minister, five of the 10 chairmen appointed to head corporations were Muslim leaders of TRS.
Courtesy: The Hindu
