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During a rally in Chevella, Union Home Minister Amit Shah vowed to abolish the 4% reservation for Muslims in Telangana if the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) forms the government in the state. He referred to religion-based reservations as unconstitutional and stated that the right to reservations belongs to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Communities.
Shah accused the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government of implementing the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) agenda and alleged corruption in several projects. He claimed that the welfare measures extended by the central government for Telangana are not reaching the poor.
“The BJP’s fight will not stop until the corrupt regime is dethroned,” Shah said. He offered the right to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Communities, stating that “This right is of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and OBC.”
In response to Shah’s promise to scrap the Muslim quota in Telangana, AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi criticized the BJP, stating that it has no vision for Telangana besides “anti-Muslim hate speech.” Owaisi urged Shah to introduce a constitutional amendment to remove the 50% quota ceiling and defended the reservation for backward Muslim groups, citing empirical data.
“No government can run in Telangana whose steering is with Majlis (Owaisi). We are not afraid of Majlis. The government of Telangana will run for the people of the state. It will not run for Owaisi,” Shah said, hitting back at Owaisi’s party’s alleged influence on the TRS government.
The BJP-ruled Karnataka government recently scrapped the 4% reservations for Muslims and decided to distribute it equally between two dominant Hindu communities ahead of the May 10 assembly elections. The Supreme Court criticized the move, stating that it appeared to be on “highly shaky ground” and “flawed,” and that it exceeded the 50% ceiling on reservations imposed by a landmark judgment in 1992.
The Karnataka government defended its decision, stating that it was based on a commission’s recommendations that examined the socio-economic status of various communities in the state.
The assembly elections in Telangana are scheduled to be held later this year.
