Ramchander Rao said the BJP was committed to safeguarding BC rights and criticised the Congress’s alleged move to grant reservations to Muslims on religious grounds.
Hyderabad: BJP Telangana president N. Ramchander Rao accused the Congress of launching a divisive campaign to alienate backward classes (BCs) as they are increasingly supporting the BJP. Drawing parallels with the Lok Sabha election narrative, where false claims were made about the BJP removing SC reservations, he said the Congress was now engaged in a similar conspiracy targeting BCs in Telangana.
Speaking at a BJP OBC Morcha meeting at the party’s state office, Ramchander Rao reiterated that Home Minister Amit Shah had clearly stated reservations would not be revoked or reduced, but only strengthened. He alleged Congress leaders were misleading BC communities by sowing doubt and mistrust.
He said the BJP was committed to safeguarding BC rights and criticised the Congress’s alleged move to grant reservations to Muslims on religious grounds. He also condemned the previous BRS government’s "vote bank politics," which he claimed deprived BCs of fair representation. In the last GHMC elections, he said, Muslim candidates had won 35 of the 50 divisions reserved for BCs.
He also questioned the constitutional validity of Muslim minority Gurukuls and the 4 per cent reservation given to Muslims in education and employment by the BRS government, calling it a violation of the Constitution.
Ramchander Rao said reservations must conform to Articles 15(4) and 16(4) of the Constitution. He accused the Congress and BRS governments of manipulating the EBC quota narrative to promote religious-based reservations at the cost of BC, SC and ST rights.
Claiming that only the BJP has consistently supported BCs, he cited the appointment of Dr K. Laxman to the Rajya Sabha and Bandaru Dattatreya as Governor as proof of the party’s commitment. He dismissed the concern expressed by Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, noting that only two BCs were included in the state Cabinet, whereas the Union Cabinet has 27 per cent BC ministers.
He also alleged BCs were sidelined in the nomination of heads for corporations. Promising maximum representation for BCs in upcoming local body elections, he demanded that the state government release full details of the caste census. The caste census conducted by the state, he claimed, was a statistical exercise without constitutional backing. Such a census must be conducted by a constitutional body like the Registrar General of India (RGI), as planned by the Centre, he said.
