BJP misleading people on Muslim OBC status for political gains: Shabbir Ali
BJP playing divisive politics and deliberately twisting historical facts: says Shabbir Ali
Hyderabad: Advisor to the Telangana Government for SC, ST, OBC, and Minorities, Mohammed Ali Shabbir, accused the BJP of misleading the people by falsely alleging that the Congress government in Telangana had newly included Muslims in the OBC category through the recent socio-economic, education, employment, political, and caste survey.
He said the BJP was distorting facts to create communal divisions and provoke non-Muslim OBCs against the Congress government.
Addressing a press conference at Gandhi Bhavan on Tuesday, Shabbir Ali slammed Union Ministers G Kishan Reddy, Bandi Sanjay, and Rajya Sabha MP Dr K Lakshman, stating that their claims were not only factually incorrect but also hypocritical, as BJP-led governments at the Centre and in several states had also classified Muslim communities as OBCs.
He accused BJP leaders of playing divisive politics and deliberately twisting historical facts to mislead backward classes. He pointed out that Muslim communities had been part of the OBC list for several decades, under governments led by both Congress and BJP.
Shabbir Ali backed his argument with historical reports and government records proving that multiple commissions had recognized Muslim backward communities as OBCs long before the Congress government came to power in Telangana.
He said he would send copies of these reports to BJP leaders via email and speed post, offering to meet them personally if they needed any clarification. However, he ridiculed BJP leaders for speaking like ignorant people despite holding high positions in the government and having access to the same official records.
He said BJP was deliberately creating fear among non-Muslim OBCs, falsely claiming that Muslim reservations were reducing their opportunities. He clarified that the four per cent reservation for Muslim OBCs in Telangana was a separate quota under Group E, meaning it did not affect the share of non-Muslim OBCs. He said the BJP was well aware of this but was spreading lies for political mileage. He reminded that BJP governments in multiple states had followed the same OBC classification for Muslims, proving that their accusations were politically motivated and hypocritical.
On the pending Supreme Court case on the four per cent Muslim OBC reservation, Shabbir Ali said the case was not about eligibility but about technical aspects of reservation policy implementation. He said the Telangana government was not creating a new category but only ensuring the proper implementation of the existing quota.
Citing data from the recent caste survey, he said 10.08 per cent of Telangana’s Muslims belong to OBC categories, while 2.48 per cent are in the OC category, proving that only truly backward groups were classified as OBCs. He said this reaffirmed that the four per cent reservation was based on socio-economic conditions, not religion.
He emphasized that the OBC classification was never religion-based, as many Hindu OBC communities shared similar socio-economic conditions as Muslim OBC groups. He said BJP was trying to communalize an issue that was purely about backwardness.
He accused the BJP of politicizing an established reality, saying that the judiciary and multiple governments had upheld the inclusion of Muslim OBCs for decades. He questioned why the BJP’s own central government and BJP-ruled states continued to recognize Muslim OBCs if they truly opposed it. He said the BJP’s statements in Telangana were misleading and designed to provoke hostility between different backward communities.