The Congress party on Saturday expressed its resolve to protect the existing 4% Muslim reservation in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh by putting up a strong legal fight in the Supreme Court.
TPCC president N. Uttam Kumar Reddy reminded that it was the Congress party under the leadership of the late Y.S. Rajashekara Reddy that provided the reservations, based on which lakhs of poor Muslisms benefitted and occupied respectable positions in society.
Mr. Reddy accused Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao of cheating the Muslims with the promise of 12% reservation. He reminded that KCR had promised to implement 12% Muslim quota within four months after coming to power in 2014 but the promise remained unfulfilled even after six years and today KCR is not even speaking about it.
Important role
Mr. Reddy, who was addressing the prize distribution ceremony of competitions held on the topic of “15 Years of 4% Muslim Reservation” on the occasion of 64th birthday of former minister Mohammed Ali Shabbir, said Mr. Shabbir Ali played a huge role in securing the reservations as a minister in YSR’s tenure.
He said reservations were implemented not only in education and employment but also in local bodies which led to socio-economic, educational and political empowerment of poor Muslims.
Mr. Shabbir Ali gave an overview of the impact of 4% Muslim reservation and claimed that nearly 20 lakh poor Muslims in combined Andhra Pradesh benefitted from 4% reservation and fee reimbursement policies in the last 15 years.
Major gainers
He said according to the All India Survey of Higher Education 2018-19, as many as 130,282 Muslims students were enrolled in Telangana State while it was 58,779 in Andhra Pradesh. Put together, a total of 1,89,061 Muslim students were enrolled in both the Telugu States where the four % reservation is being implemented.
Mr. Shabbir Ali said the share of Muslims in government jobs increased significantly. It was the Congress party that ensured real empowerment of poor, socially and economically backward Muslims, he said.
He also informed that the Supreme Court has resumed hearing on 4% quota this month and all efforts were being made to win the legal battle in favour of reservations for Muslims.
More than 1200 school students participated in the competitions held on February 11 and 12 and the winners of those competitions were given prizes on Saturday. State and district level competitions on importance of Muslim reservation would be held at a massive scale to create awareness among the children and their families.
