Telangana: The Telangana government on Saturday decided to increase the reservation for backward Muslims from 4% to 12% in BC-E category, while the Scheduled Tribe (ST) is set to get 10% from the present 6%.
A special assembly session is scheduled to be held on Sunday to pass the revamped Telangana State Reservation Bill. The state chief minister, K Chandrashekar Rao, will table the bill in both the Legislative Assembly as well as Legislative Council.
Having called it a “communal based reservation”, Telangana state BJP leadership is set to oppose the bill. The BJP has said that such religion based reservations are constitutionally invalid.
Reacting strongly to the move and hinting at the Centre not letting the bill pass, Union minister Venkaiah Naidu in Hyderabad said implementation of reservation on the basis of religion may result in social unrest in the country and "lead to the creation of another Pakistan".
"We are not opposing the bill because of KCR; we oppose the move as it will lead to the creation of another Pakistan. The BJP has an all-India policy. Communal reservations will divide people and will give rise to another partition,” he said, adding that “it will bring disunity among the people".
If the new bill is implemented, the total reservation in the state would go up to 62%.
Increased reservation to Muslims was one of the election promises of the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS).
"If the Centre refuses to pass the bill, the state government may approach the Supreme Court. The Centre cannot differentiate between states. If Tamil Nadu can get a similar bill passed, why can't we? We are not begging, we are asking for our right. I am confident we will get it. The decision is based on the population of the state which is mostly backward,” said CM K Chandrashekar Rao.
With state Assembly elections scheduled in 2019, the issue has become critically important for all parties with the BJP alleging that the TRS is playing vote bank politics.
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