Telangana: To Counter KCR, Congress Plans 'Minorities Declaration' To Appease Muslims, Christians Ahead Of Polls

The Telangana Congress has claimed that it has received more than 300 suggestions from prominent Muslim and Christian socio-religious organisations for its forthcoming Minorities Declaration.

This declaration will be released after the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Declaration.

Mohammed Ali Shabbir, the convenor of the state unit's Political Affairs Committee and chairman of the Minorities Declaration Committee, stated that the document will present a comprehensive vision for the safety, growth, and prosperity of all minorities, including Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, and Jains.

Shabbir assured that all promises made in the declaration will be practical and implemented fully.

To review the progress on the draft of the document, Shabbir and Zafar Javeed, senior PCC vice-president and convenor of the Minorities Declaration Committee, have been conducting meetings.

Shabbir mentioned that more than 12 prominent Muslim, Christian, and other organisations have already submitted their charter of demands to the committee.

Among the demands received from the Muslim community, three leading Shia Muslim organisations have contributed about 40 of the 89 demands.

The Christian community has presented over 30 main demands.

Additionally, the Committee members have submitted more than 400 suggestions on what the Congress should do for the welfare of minorities if it emerges victorious in the upcoming elections.

The demands have been grouped into different categories, including economic empowerment, education, women’s empowerment, religious infrastructure and honorarium, housing, Old City development, protection of Wakf properties, and the promotion of Urdu language, cultural and religious institutions.

Muslim and Christian groups have put forth a range of demands, such as government financial grants and subsidised loans for economic empowerment, increased quotas in education and reimbursement of students’ fees, job opportunities in the government for women’s empowerment, honorarium for pastors and muezzins, and free housing for eligible beneficiaries.

According to Shabbir, the strong response to the Minorities Declaration plan indicates that the minorities in Telangana feel let down by the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government and are determined to remove it in the upcoming Assembly elections.

He stated, “The various suggestions demonstrate that the welfare of minorities, who make up around 14 per cent of the total population in Telangana, has been neglected under the BRS regime. The next Congress government will need to put in significant effort to bring them back on the path of development.”

The Congress plans to hold a meeting with representatives of minority organisations in Hyderabad in the third week of September. This meeting will take place after the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting in the same location.

The purpose of these meetings is for the Congress to counter the welfare initiatives of the ruling BRS, led by Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR).

The BRS recently extended a financial assistance scheme to the minorities, and the Congress aims to present its own declarations in response.

The KCR government introduced a new welfare scheme in early June. This scheme provides financial assistance to eligible beneficiaries from the Backward Classes (BCs), known as the "Economic Support Scheme with 100 per cent subsidy."

It offers a one-time aid of Rs 1 lakh to one member of a BC beneficiary family.

On July 23, the government extended this scheme to Muslims and Christians as well, and applications were invited from all eligible beneficiaries.

The Minorities Declaration Committee of the TPCC consists of several convenors.

These convenors include Mohammed Ali Shabbir, Zafar Javeed, Shaik Abdullah Sohail, Uzma Shakir, Faheem Qureshi, B Ezekiel, Syed Azmathullah Hussaini, Deepak John, and Rashed Khan.