Several Congress leaders have accused the BJP-led government at the Centre of moving towards scrapping of reservation to the socially backward sections — Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes and Minorities. They also alleged that TRS government in the State is also against the reservation to those communities.
Participating in a protest organised by the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) here on Monday, its president N. Uttam Kumar Reddy alleged that the BJP and TRS governments at the Centre and in the State were against continuation of caste-based reservation and they were in favour of scrapping such quota.
A host of Congress leaders, including AICC in-charge of party affairs in Telangana R.C. Khutia, TPCC working presidents A. Revanth Reddy, Ponnam Prabhakar and J. Kusum Kumar, former PCC presidents Ponnala Lakshmaiah, V. Hanumantha Rao, former ministers K. Jana Reddy, J. Geetha Reddy, T. Jeevan Reddy, G. Chinna Reddy, Md. Ali Shabbir, M. Kodanda Reddy, former MPs Mallu Ravi and Madhu Yaskhi Goud, AICC spokesperson D. Shravan and others, participated in the protest.
Non-political protest
Mr. Uttam Kumar Reddy said the verdict of the Supreme Court stating that reservation for SCs and STs was not a fundamental right was “shocking”. He attributed the judgement to the misleading and wrong representation made by the Centre on the issue. Alleging that BJP and RSS were against reservation for SC, ST, OBC and minorities, the TPCC chief said the Congress party would never let them succeed in their goal of scrapping reservation.
Terming the protest taken up by the Congress as non-political, the TPCC president said it was organised to infuse confidence among dalit, tribal, backward classes and minorities communities. The apex court judgement had created lot of confusion and the Centre was not giving any clarity by re-assuring the SC, ST, OBC and minorities that the ongoing quota would remain intact.
Stating that it was only the Congress party that had empowered dalit and other weaker sections, Mr. Reddy slammed TRS for its silence on the promise of enhancing quota for Muslims and STs in Telangana. He pointed out that TRS MPs did not raise the issue in Parliament even once. Stating that there were no legal hurdles involved in enhancing ST quota, he demanded increase in quota for them to 10% without further delay.
Mr. Uttam Kumar Reddy noted that Congress regime in the past had introduced reservation in the premier professional educational institutions such as IITs and IIMs and said it was done as part of empowering those sections. He demanded that the Centre take curative legal and legislative measures to protect SC, ST reservation in the wake of Supreme Court judgement.
