Telangana CM hails PM's statement on backwardness among Muslims

Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Sunday hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's statement that more inclusiveness is needed for those who are backward among the Muslim community and hoped that this will pave the way for increasing the reservations for Muslims in the state.

"It augurs well," said Rao about Modi's remark which he made while intervening during a discussion on the Backward Commission at the BJP's National Executive meeting at Bhubaneswar.

Speaking in the Telangana Legislative Council while introducing a bill to increase reservations for Muslims from four percent to 12 percent, KCR, as Rao is popularly known, referred to the PM's statement while stressing the need to provide quota to socially and economically backward among Muslims.

The bill, which also increased the quota for the Scheduled Tribes from 6 percent to 10 percent, was earlier passed by by the Assembly.

"If this statement of the PM had come earlier, perhaps the BJP members would not have got suspended," remarked KCR referring to suspension of all five Bharatiya Janata Party members from the Assembly for disrupting the proceedings to protest hike in quota for Muslims.

Pointing out that Muslim population in the state has crossed 14 percent, he told the House that only backward sections among the community will get the reservations, reiterating that the reservations are not based on religion.

As the overall reservations in Telangana will now go up to 62 percent, the state will be sending the legislation to the Union Government for President's assent and request for including it in the 9th Schedule of the Constitution as was done in the case of Tamil Nadu.

The Chief Minister urged the Union Government to keep in mind the changes which had come over last seven decades and allow states to provide quota to different sections on the basis of their backwardness and in proportion to their population.

Referring to the growing demands from various sections of people for reservations, he cited the example of BJP-ruled Rajasthan which accepted the demands from Gujjars and Jats to provide them reservations and as the overall quota in that state increased to 68 percent, passed a legislation and sent it to the Centre for President's assent.

--IANS

ms/vd