In 2014, TRS promised 12% reservation to Muslims and has accordingly sent an assembly resolution to the Centre for approval. However, the 12% reservation proposed by the Telangana government crosses the 50% limit which the honorable Supreme Court of India has imposed earlier and for the reservation to get notified, the Central government has to amend the constitution.
TRS has so far criticized the NDA government for not fulfilling the wishes of the state by stalling the assembly resolution on Muslim reservation. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has eventually cleared the air on the pending Muslim reservation issue during his rally in Hyderabad. The PM said that honoring a reservation policy just for the political gains of a party means disrespecting the Indian constitution and the Chairman of the drafting committee of the Indian Constitution Dr.B.R.Ambedkar.
“Our constituent assembly members have thoughtfully rejected the proposal of religion based reservations and anything which differentiates based on religion. This religion-based ruling was followed by the Britishers and KCR wanted to use this for the gains of his own political interests”, the Prime Minister said. “There is a Supreme court ruling that total reservations must not cross 50%. If KCR has to accommodate this 12% Muslim reservation quota, will he deprive the SC and STs of their quota to create space?”, he questioned.
Though PM Modi’s arguments sound reasonable, it is very rare that a political person speaks against a community just before elections, notwithstanding its effect on the vote bank. In addition, the Prime Minister personally making such remarks has surprised many. Does it mean that the Muslim community in Telangana had no reason to vote for BJP after PM Modi’s remarks?.
Not only this, but the Prime Minister’s remarks might also affect the party’s image nationwide by tagging BJP as anti-Muslim and anti-secular. Looks like BJP has risked its Muslims vote bank for 2019 too.