A day after the Congress government in Telangana issued an order allowing its Muslim employees to leave work an hour early for prayers during the month of Ramadan, the BJP accused it of “appeasement politics”. The February 17 order allowed all “Government Muslim Employees/Teachers/Contract /Out-sourcing/Boards/ Corporations & Public Sector Employees working in the State to leave their Offices/Schools at 4.00 pm during the month of Ramzan from March 2 to March 31”. BJP IT Cell head Amit Malviya posted on X: “The appeasement bug strikes the Congress government in Telangana, which has approved relaxed work hours for Muslim state employees during Ramzan”. He posted: “No such concessions are ever granted to Hindus when they fast during Navratri. This tokenism isn’t about being sensitive to the religious beliefs of one community but about reducing them to a mere vote bank. It should be opposed.” Adding to this, Telangana BJP MLA Raja Singh said that during Hindu festivals, no concession is given to believers. “If one community is given preference over the other, then it has to be appeasement politics,” Singh said. In Andhra Pradesh, where the BJP is in a coalition government with the Telugu Desam Party, a similar concession has been given to Muslim government servants. In an order dated February 22, the government allowed all Muslim government staff to leave office by 4 pm, just like Telangana. The Telangana Congress, meanwhile, slammed the BJP for indulging in “politics of polarisation”. “During all festivals, the government gives concessions to believers of different faiths. During Dasara, a 13-day holiday was given by our government. The BJP has no idea about this because they are truly not caring about the welfare of people of Telangana,” said Telangana Congress spokesperson Syed Nizamuddin. Even the previous BRS government had allowed this concession, Nizamuddin said.
