Congress Flays KCR For Being "Anti-Minority"

Two prominent leaders of the Congress - TPCC head A Revanth Reddy and former minister Mohammad Shabbir Ali, today attacked Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao for allegedly being a "pseudo-secular" leader.

Addressing a party meeting organised by Shabbir Ali at his Jubilee Hills residence to discuss the arrangements for Revanth Reddy's swearing-in as TPCC head, which will reportedly take place at the Gandhi Bhavan on July 7, the latter appealed to the minority communities in the state to "reconnect" with the Congress to defeat the emergent "communal forces" at both the state and the national level.

Reddy claimed that the BJP-led Centre had been polarising the nation during elections by accusing the Congress of pandering to the Muslim community to gain votes, and added, "While the Centre is openly alienating the Muslim community, the community itself has been supporting regional parties like the TRS which are ultimately supporting the BJP at the national level. This trend has caused immense damage to the secular fabric of India. The Congress has never appeased any particular community. Instead, we have only tried to ensure social justice by giving equal opportunities to every community without any sort of discrimination."

Calling CM KCR an agent of the BJP and of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the leader then proceeded to cite several examples of the "communal tendencies" of the state government and the Centre.

"KCR has supported all the anti-minority moves of the Modi regime. TRS MPs supported the Triple Talaq Bill and they did not even oppose the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) or the NRC. Despite repeated demands by our party, the KCR government has still not passed a resolution in the state Assembly opposing either the CAA or the NRC. Rahul Gandhi has rightly described the TRS as the B-Team of the BJP. Both the saffron party and the TRS are pretending to be political rivals simply to cheat and mislead the people of Telangana," he thundered.

Reddy also ridiculed CM KCR's claims of being a leader who had empowered the Muslim community, and stated, "By giving the post of Home Minister to a Muslim, KCR thinks that he has empowered the entire community. The Congress too had made a Muslim leader (M M Hasham) the Home Minister of undivided Andhra Pradesh when KCR was still a schoolboy. A Muslim leader, Kamaluddin, was made the APCC head as well. Shabbir Ali was the leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council till recently. So, it is clear that our party too has given various top posts, including that of President, Vice President, Chief Minister and Governor, to leaders from the Muslim community."

Shabbir Ali too made similar points, and appealed to the party workers to "expose" the failures of the TRS government in supporting the minority groups in the state at their individual levels.

He alleged, "The "false hype" created by the TRS administration regarding its welfare measures for minorities must be exposed. Not a single promise made by the TRS in its manifestoes for the 2014 or the 2018 elections has been fulfilled. KCR won the elections by promising equal opportunities to all the minority groups in the state. However, after grabbing power, he has only been targeting the Muslim community, its institutions and even places of worship, especially in his second term as CM."

The leader pointed out that the TRS regime had so far demolished six mosques and other religious places across Telangana.

"Institutions like the Urdu Academy and the Minorities Finance Corporation are being deprived of funds and staff. KCR has now turned so communal that he is openly hindering Muslim representation in various bodies. Among the 10 Vice-Chancellors of various universities, not one is a Muslim. Similarly, not a single Muslim found a place in the newly constituted Telangana State Public Service Commission. The TRS government even wants to rename historic institutions and places named after Muslim personalities. KCR is nothing but the Yogi of Telangana," he fumed.

The meeting was attended by all the senior minority leaders of the Congress. There, they discussed the arrangements that needed to be made for Revanth Reddy's visit to the Dargah-e-Yousufain at Nampally on July 7, before his swearing-in as TPCC chief at the Gandhi Bhavan.