Taking minorities for a ride, the Revanth way

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Their hopes that the scheme would see the light of the day during Easter or Ramzan Holy month were shattered. Forget about honouring the promises, till date there has been no review meeting to take stock of the declaration.

Hyderabad: In the run-up to the Legislative Assembly elections, there were strong indications that the incumbent BRS State Government, headed by Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR), was poised of a hat-trick.

There was euphoria among the people as they knew that they were in safe hands as the first government of Telangana State was doing everything to ensure the all-round development of the State and the well-being of the people.

The power mongers from the Congress party and those from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) knew that they were headed for another poll debacle.

What was required was to change the pro-KCR mindset of the people, which could only be achieved by false propaganda and bombard the people with a series of accusations against the government, the ministers and ruling party leaders.

Rather than come up with some constructive and workable alternatives, the Congress leaders, who were desperate to taste success and assume power, spent more time in framing false charge against the Chief Minister and finding fault with every scheme and welfare measure initiated by the state government.

They unleashed a massive anti-government campaign so that they could confuse the people. After all, hoodwinking people and winning them over by hook or crook is an inborn trait of every Congress leader.

And this is precisely what they did and at that point in time going all over town with anti-government blabber seemed to be the only obsession of the Congress leaders.

Although it was anti-BRS government in nature, the toner was changed dramatically when the election notification was issued by the Election Commission of India (ECI). It not only continued with its criticism of the state government but also came with a manifesto that was loaded with unrealistic promises, which seemed too Utopian for any sane person to digest.

On coming to power, the Congress government, under the wily opportunist A. Revanth Reddy, changed tack and gradually people started noticing the cheap and cheating mentality of the new rulers. The so-called six guarantees and their implementation within 100 days of coming to power were all shams. However, the biggest fraud has been played out on the minorities, especially Muslims.

In what was an exaggerated assurance, the Congress government came up with an ambitiously chalked out ‘Minorities Declaration’. It is ironic that after each and every ‘important’ meeting or brainstorming session, the Congress think tank comes up with a declaration. Of course, there is nothing in them for the people or their betterment.

The 16-point ‘Minorities Declaration’ that was incorporated in the manifesto appears to have been meant for the galleries. One would like to ask the Congress to explain our posers to them, which drawn from their own declaration.

Where is the Rs. 4, 000 crore budget for minorities:

What about the Minorities Sub-plan? Till date not even a single promise as regards minorities has been fulfilled. Even today, the Imams, Muezzins, Khadims and Pastors are waiting for implementation of the Rs. 10,000 honorarium.

Their hopes that the scheme would see the light of the day during Easter or Ramzan Holy month were shattered. Forget about honouring the promises, till date there has been no review meeting to take stock of the declaration.

But, of course, how can there be any review of a subject, which was supposed to be only on paper and aimed at winning votes of the minorities.

That way one has to salute these master schemers and their bravado! In a welcome contrast to this foolhardy ‘take them for granted’ approach of Congress leaders, is the Good Samaritan in KCR, who is genuinely keen on improving the minorities and of people from all categories and communities.

It is time to recall the dozen major promises made in the declaration and ask the Chief Minister to explain. What is the status of the much-hypedcaste census that was to be taken up within six months? This was supposed to ensure a proportionate and fair reservation for all backward classes, including minorities, in jobs, education and government welfare schemes.

What about the minorities’welfare budget getting enhanced to Rs.4,000 crore and a dedicated sub-plan for minorities? There is no trace of the Rs.1,000 crore annual provision to facilitate subsidised loans for jobless minority youth and women. They continue to remain unemployed and neglected.

A similar fate exists for the Abdul Kalam Taufa-e-Taleem Scheme, which is aimed at providing financial assistance to the tune of Rs. five lakh to Muslim, Christian, Sikh and other minority youth to complete M.Phil and Ph.D and similar other financial benefits to from 10th standard right up to post-graduation.

There has been no ground work as regards the proposed Telangana Sikh Minority Finance Corporation and vacancies in minority institutions are yet to be filled up.

Although there was a glimmer of hope, the promised conduct of special DSC to recruit Urdu Medium teachers shows no signs of taking off.

The monthly honorarium for priests from all religions including Imams, Muezzins, Khadims, Pastors and Granthis continues to what the BRS government had sanctioned despite assurances of the emoluments going up to Rs. 12, 000 each.

To make matters worse, and taking a step backwards, honorarium has not been paid for almost two months on the pretext of the Model Code of Conduct. In fact, they have been paid anything at all.

Amendment of ‘The Telangana State Minorities Commission Act, 1998’ to make it a permanent body and suitable changes for minorities welfare have not moved an inch. Even though there is a compelling need to address this on a priority basis, digitizing land and property records of Waqf Board and reclaiming and re-registering encroached properties of the Waqf Board have been kept in the backburner.

The government grandiosely announced a shadi Mubarak type scheme and assured to pay Rs. 1.60 lakh to newly-wed couples from Muslims, Christians, Sikhs and other minorities families. This remains an unfulfilled promise like all other such assurances by the Congress government.

As things stand, people are wishing that the state government will come up with a timeframe to fulfill each of its promise.

If the Revanth Reddy government is really concerned about welfare and economic well-being of minorities then it should introduce the bill for Minorities Sub Plan in the coming budget session and announce the date by which the Caste Census will be initiated and by whenreservations for Muslims would be increased.

The Congress party cannot get away by making false promises to the people, whose patience has been tested long enough. The BRS cadre should deliver the Congress declaration to all households and ask people to question the government about their implementation.

These are the very people who benefitted a lot during the BRS tenure. Now, it seems like they are being pushed into days or torture as they stare at misery and nothing else. The Revanth Reddy government provides no hope for them, not even in their dreams.

–  By Boinipally Vinod Kumar

(Author is the BRS Candidate from Karimagar Lok Sabha constituency)

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