No Threat To 4% Muslim Quota In Congress Rule: Shabbir Ali

Advisor to the Telangana Government Mohammed Ali Shabbir today said that there was no threat to the 4% Muslim quota in place in Telangana, and rubbished the threats by Union Home Minister Amit Shah of scrapping the quota if the BJP was voted to power.

Addressing mediapersons at Gandhi Bhavan, Shabbir Ali said that the 4% Muslim reservation case was pending in the Supreme Court, and that a constitutional bench of the apex court would hear it. Until the Supreme Court gave its final verdict, neither Amit Shah nor any other BJP leader could eliminate the quota in the Telugu States, he said.

He also said that the previous Congress government had implemented the 4% quota to ensure the empowerment of the socially and economically backward groups among the Muslims. He asserted that the quota was not given based on religion but on socio-economic backwardness, and that only 14 identified groups were getting the benefit due to their backwardness established by the BC Commission, and not the entire community.

He added that the quota did not result in the breaching of the 50% ceiling set by the Supreme Court as per the Indra Sawhney judgment. Most importantly, the Muslim quota was given separately without reducing the reservation percentage of other communities, he said.

Shabbir Ali said it had become a habit for Amit Shah to speak against the 4% Muslim reservation on every visit to Telangana. Shah knew that the BJP had almost no chance of coming to power in Telangana, and so tried misleading the people with promises like scrapping the Muslim quota, Shabbir Ali said.

"Unfortunately, Shah is holding the portfolio of India's Home Minister, and he doesn't understand the difference between constitutional and unconstitutional," he said, and added that he would file a petition in court against Shah and others seeking orders to restrict their commenting on the 4% Muslim quota, which was pending in the Supreme Court.

About the CAA notification released by the Centre, Shabbir Ali said that that was nothing but a political stunt by the BJP to implement an unconstitutional four-year-old law. Muslims should not panic as the Congress had already announced its opposition to the CAA, NRC and NPR, he said.