RALLY TRACKER

HYDERABAD: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will increase the reservations of Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), and Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and end the one granted to Muslims in Telangana if it comes to power, Union home minister Amit Shah said on Thursday, adding that the Lok Sabha elections are a contest between “vote for jihad” and “vote for vikas (development)”.

Addressing a rally in Bhongir Lok Sabha seat of Telangana, Shah accused the Congress of fighting elections by telling lies. “The Congress wants to fight elections by speaking lies. They say that if Prime Minister Narendra Modi comes, he will finish the reservation. Prime Minister Modi has been leading this country unanimously for the last 10 years, but he did not end the reservation. However, the Congress party has robbed the reservations of SC, ST and OBC by giving 4 per cent reservation to Muslims,” he said.

Asserting that “a vote for BJP in Telangana will help the BJP achieve its goal of 400 seats”, he said: “In 2019, the public of Telangana gave us four seats. This time, we will win more than 10 Lok Sabha seats in Telangana. This double-digit score in Telangana will make PM Modi cross 400 seats... Make BJP victorious on more than 10 seats. We will end the Muslim reservation and increase the reservation of SC, ST, and OBCs.”

The BJP has repeatedly raised the issue of the existing Muslim reservation in Telangana, calling it “unconstitutional”. During a

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Union home minister

Bhongir

Telangana: CONGRESS Priyanka Gandhi Vadra,

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Yogi Adityanath,

UP chief minister

Kheri

Uttar Pradesh: Amit Shah,

Congress general secretary

Uttar Pradesh:

Rae Bareli

Rahul Gandhi,

Congress leader

Medak

Telangana: SP Akhilesh Yadav,

Samajwadi Party chief

Bahraich

UP:

public meeting in March, chief minister A Revanth Reddy said that the ruling Congress in the state would protect the 4% reservation for Muslims in education and employment. “Neither Shah nor PM Narendra Modi can scrap the 4% Muslim quota started by the then Congress CM, the late YS Rajasekhara Reddy, in the undivided state,” he had said.

The former BRS government in the state had also refused to do away with the reservation amid criticisms from the BJP. “The 4% Muslim reservation is not on the basis of religion. That is on the basis of socio-economic status,” then state minister KT Rama Rao said in November.

Voting for all 17 Lok Sabha seats in Telangana will take place on May 13 in the fourth phase of the ongoing elections, with the day of counting and declaration of results scheduled for June 4.

Taking a jab at the Congress, Shah said that the ongoing election is a war between two slogans — “Vote for Jihad” and “Vote for Vikas (development)”. “It is also a fight between the welfare of one family and welfare of the entire nation; between Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Indian guarantee and Rahul Gandhi’s Chinese guarantee.”

He further slammed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for not fulfilling his promise of granting a crop loan waiver for farmers. “He promised to extend financial assistance of ₹15,000 to farmers but he didn’t fulfil that. He promised education loans of ₹5 lakh to students without guarantee but he didn’t. He didn’t give a Scooty to girl students as promised, and he didn’t open International Schools in every taluka,” he said.

Asserting that “Modi ji does what he says, but the guarantees of Rahul baba (Gandhi) don’t last even till sunset”, the Union minister said: “The Congress party also halted the construction of Ram Mandir for 70 years. In just five years, PM Modi won the case, performed the ‘Bhoomi Pujan’ and did the ‘Pran Pratishtha’ ceremony... PM Modi abrogated Article 370 so that the Tricolour will keep flying high in

Kashmir till eternity...”

At the rally, Shah also referred to the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, the Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) and the Congress as “ABC of appeasement”. “These parties don’t allow the celebration of ‘Hyderabad Liberation Day’ on September 17. These people want to run Telangana on the basis of Sharia and Quran,” he said.

Since the formation of Telangana state in 2014, the BJP has been demanding the celebration of September 17 as the “Hyderabad Liberation Day” stating that it was on this day that the Telangana region was liberated from the Muslim ruler Mir Osman Ali Khan, the seventh Nizam, and merged with India. The BRS government, however, celebrates it as “Telangana Merger Day”.

Taking strong exception to Shah’s remarks, former MLC and state Congress leader Kapilavai Dileep Kumar said: “If the BJP gets 400 seats, it would usurp all the powers of the states and even control the gram panchayats. It would definitely do away with the reservations.”