Months after caste survey, Telangana Assembly passes Bills for 42% Backward Classes reservation

This comes months after the state government’s caste survey found that the BCs — including Muslim caste groups — form 56.33 percent of the state’s population.

In the debate, Bills secured support not only from the ruling Congress but also Opposition parties such as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS). Introducing the Bill, BC Welfare Minister Ponnam Prabhakar said: “There should be one voice which should go from the Telangana Assembly that all of us support the Bills and 42 percent reservation…Backward Classes have become the backbone classes in the country”.

Speaking in the Assembly, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy said: “Congress leader Rahul Gandhi made the promise to enhance BC reservation to 42 percent if the Congress is voted to power…We wanted to send a strong message to the Telangana society that the entire Assembly arrived at a consensus on the increase of BC quota. My gratitude to everyone who is cooperating with the government in this historical moment”.

The former government had sent a proposal to the Governor to increase BC reservation to 37 percent, but the current government is withdrawing the earlier proposal and sending a new one, the CM said. Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka said, “The caste survey was done in a scientific way. We want to pass the Bills and send it to the Centre”.

The chief minister said that as the leader of the House, he was “assuring that I will take proactive measures and lead to achieve 42 per cent BC reservation”.

“Leaders of all parties are welcome to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi to push for this reservation. The reservation can be implemented only if the Centre includes the new reservation allocation in the ninth schedule of the Constitution,” he said.

He also requested Union ministers G Kishan Reddy and Bandi Sanjay Kumar “to take the responsibility of seeking an appointment of PM Modi”. Rahul Gandhi will also be roped into to raise the issue in the Parliament, he said.

The CM has also written to Modi seeking an appointment on BC reservation.

Speaking in the House, former minister and BRS party leader Minister Harish Rao said, “We are unconditionally supporting the Bills to provide 42 percent reservation for the BCs”.

The party’s BC leader Gangula Kamalakar said that the BC population has been facing several injustices in the country. “We the government to implement BC support programmes in the state. Whatever is in your hands, implement those,” Kamalakar said.

The BJP’s Payal Shankar said that it was the Congress government which had delayed OBC reservation in the country. “We support this reservation, but we want to make sure that the BC survey was done scientifically,” Shankar said, adding Muslims should not get reservation on the basis of religion.

However, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen leader Akbaruddin Owaisi objected to the reservation in the current form.

“What is being implemented is not Muslim reservation, but reservation for Backward Classes among Muslims. This party should stop dividing the country on the basis of religion,” he said.