Hyderabad: Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee president N. Uttam Kumar Reddy alleged that both the Bharatiya Janata Party and Telangana Rashtra Samithi are against reservation for Scheduled Castes and Tribes and Backward Classes and they want the caste-based quotas to be scrapped.
On Monday, the Congress party organised a dharna at Indira Park here in the city. Addressing the gathering, Mr Reddy said that the Supreme Court’s recent verdict that the reservation for SCs and STs was not a fundamental right, was quite shocking and the judgment was the result of misleading and wrong representations made by the BJP government.
The Congress party’s protest is not political, he said, as there are no elections round the corner and the protest has been organised to instill confidence among Dalits, Girijans, OBCs and minorities that the ongoing reservation would continue come what may.
Mr Reddy said that only the Congress party empowered Dalits and other weaker sections.
He said Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao came to power on the promise of making a Dalit the Chief Minister. Instead, he himself became Chief Minister of Telangana and did not give any representation even to Madigas in his cabinet.
Congress MP A Revanth Reddy, who took part in the protest, alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made new laws to cover up his inaction. He said that the BJP at the centre and TRS in the state are anti-Dalit and anti-tribal.
Former minister J. Geeta Reddy said she was worried about the future of the coming generations and said that the Congress party introduced many Acts for the development of SCs and STs, and alleged that the BJP government was trying to abolish reservations.
Congress Legislative Party leader Bhatti Vikramarka said the Union and state governments are trying to suppress SCs and STs. Criticising the policies of the Union government, he said that the people of the country are made to hold the national flag to prove their identity as Indians.
He also questioned Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi on why he is not concerned about the minorities when they are coming onto the roads
raising concerns about their lives. “If you are really concerned about the minorities and their welfare, come and join us in the fight,” he told the MIM leader.
