Telangana Congress Vice-President Mohammad Shabbir Ali on Wednesday strongly condemned the remarks of the Union Minister for Minority Affairs Najma Heptullah wherein she opposed reservation for Muslims.
Addressing a press conference at Gandhi Bhavan in Hyderabad, Ali accused Heptullah of implementing the secret agenda of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Sangh Parivar, of denying Muslims and other minorities their due share in education and jobs.
He said that Heptullah had always been confined to AC rooms, and had never gone out to study the real condition of Muslims in the country.
He clarified that the Congress had introduced a 4% reservation for Muslims in Andhra Pradesh, and had proposed a 4.5% sub-quota for minorities at the national level in view of their deteriorating socio-economic conditions.
Referring to the studies conducted during the Congress regime, Ali said that the reservation for Muslims had not been given on the basis of religion. Further, not all members of the community were extended the benefit of reservations. Only the socially and economically backward sections of Muslims were identified, and reservation given to them.
He advised Heptullah to study the entire aspect of Muslim reservation instead of making generic comments.
Ali said that the Congress governments at the Centre and in Andhra Pradesh did not aim only to please the minorities. They took practical steps like providing reservation to ensure the socio-economic development of the community.
He also announced that the community would adopt the path of agitation if the BJP government at the Centre tried to stop the reservations in place in Andhra Pradesh and denied the minorities their due share in welfare measures. (INN)