Congress' Walk For 12% Muslim Reservation On July 2

The Congress will organise a "Walk For 12% Muslim Reservation" on July 2 to pressurize the TRS government to fulfill its major electoral promise to the community.

"The Congress has decided to intensify its agitation against the TRS government for its failure to give the promised 12% reservation in jobs and education to backward Muslims. Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao openly cheated the Muslims on the 12% quota issue. He promised to implement 12% reservation for the community within four months of coming to power. However, even after four years the implementation of this promise is very far from reality," GHCC Minorities Department chairman Shaik Abdullah Sohail said.

He informed that the walk would be a part of a postcard campaign wherein 12,000 post cards would be sent to the Chief Minister seeking 12% reservation for Muslims. Congress leaders and workers would walk from Gandhi Bhavan to the General Post Office (GPO) at Abids to drop their postcards.

Abdullah Sohail described the campaign for 12% reservations as a public movement against the "cheating" by KCR. "The TRS came to power due to the Muslims who trusted KCR's promise of a 12% quota. Having enjoyed power for the last four years, KCR is now simply trying to wash his hands off the issue. Passing a bill in the Assembly does not mean that the promise has been fulfilled. The TRS government should implement the 12% quota for Muslims under the BC-E category in jobs and education. We will chase KCR till the very end to either make him fulfil the promise or quit politics," he said.

The Congress leader pointed out that the Congress had implemented 5% reservation for Muslims in 2004 in just 58 days of coming to power. Though the quota was reduced by 1% following the directives of the High Court, it was still under implementation, and so far nearly 20 lakh poor Muslims had benefited from the 4% reservation.

"An additional 8% quota could have provided thousands of jobs and seats to poor Muslims of Telangana. By not implementing the promised 12% quota, KCR has caused huge loss to the Muslim community. The Chief Minister should tender a public apology for the delay, and should also explain how he will compensate the community for the losses," he said.

Abdullah Sohail added that the fight for the quota was not a purely political issue. "It is an issue of our self-respect. Despite being poor and backward, Muslims have always lived with dignity and honour. No political party can dare to cheat the Muslims with fake promises and get away with it. Non-implementation of the 12% quota will be an open humiliation for the entire Muslim community, and we will not allow KCR to come to us again seeking votes in the next elections," he said.

The Congress leader also appealed to the Muslims leaders of the TRS to stop misleading the community. "All Muslims leaders including Deputy CM Mahmood Ali should quit their posts in the government and the party to build pressure for the 12% quota. This is a now or never situation. If the TRS and KCR are not punished this time, then other political parties and leaders will make it a ritual to cheat Muslims with a lot of other fake promises in campaigns for future elections," he said.

Abdullah Sohail informed that senior leaders including AICC Secretary R C Khuntia, TPCC President N Uttam Kumar Reddy and others would take part in the walk on Monday.