Former minister Mohammed Ali Shabbir has questioned the silence of Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao on the remarks made by Union Home Minister Amit Shah on scrapping the Muslim quota if BJP comes to power in next elections.
“CM KCR has reacted on almost every issue, including paddy procurement, during the review meeting he held on Wednesday. But he did not speak a single word on the 4% Muslim quota which Amit Shah threatened to quash. Why is he silent on this crucial issue concerning nearly 14% of the State’s population? Is he afraid of countering Amit Shah or should we take his silence as consent to the BJP leader’s demand?” he asked in a media statement on Thursday.
Shabbir Ali reminded that KCR came to power in the 2014 elections on the promise of giving 12% reservation in jobs and education to Muslims within four months after coming to power. However, this promise remained unimplemented even after eight years. “While CM KCR and other TRS leaders have stopped talking about the 12% Muslim quota, they seem to have joined a conspiracy to end the 4% Muslim reservation. If we look at the chronology, TRS Govt denied representation to Muslims in important bodies like the Telangana State Public Service Commission, Vice-Chancellors of Universities, etc., It stopped the release of Fee Reimbursement which led to the closure of over 70% of minority engineering and other professional colleges. Denial or delay in the release of scholarships forced lakhs of minority students to discontinue their higher studies. Now TRS-BJP seems to have hatched a conspiracy to end 4% Muslim quota,” he said.
Even after five days Union Home Minister Amit Shah threatened to end the Muslim quota, CM KCR did not react to the statement. “KCR’s silence for so long has sent a clear message that TRS Govt would not defend the 4% Muslim quota,” he said while reminding us that the previous Congress Govt implemented 4% Muslim reservation in 2004-05 and fought a long legal battle to protect the same. The 4% Muslim quota is still under implementation in both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, based on the stay granted by the Supreme Court in March 2010, and so far benefitted nearly 20 lakh socially and economically backward Muslims who are categorized as BC-E.
Shabbir Ali demanded that CM KCR clarify his stand on the continuance of 4% Muslim reservation in Telangana. He feared that the TRS Govt might not fight the case in the Supreme Court in a proper manner to get the Muslim quota quashed. However, he said that the Congress party would never allow TRS and BJP to sabotage the ongoing 4% Muslim quota under any circumstances. “Both TRS and MIM are allies in Telangana. But, strangely, MIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi did not question KCR’s silence on Amit Shah’s threat. This indicates that MIM is supporting the moves of TRS and BJP to end the Muslim reservation,” he alleged.
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