Hyderabad: Telangana Civil Supplies and Irrigation minister Capt N Uttam Kumar Reddy warned that democracy in India could be in peril if Narendra Modi secures a third term as Prime Minister.
Uttam Kumar Reddy made these remarks on Thursday, May 2, while addressing a series of meetings in Mothe, Nadigudem, Munagala and Kodad in Surpyapet district in favour of Congress candidate K Raghuveera Reddy from the Nalgonda Lok Sabha constituency.
Referring to PM Modi’s speech during his recent visit to Sangareddy, Uttam Kumar Reddy said that PM Modi failed to specify clearly that the BJP would not change the Constitution if voted to power.
Alleging that the BJP and RSS have often indicated that they are against the reservation system, he said there was always a danger that if the BJP came to power again, “it would scrap the reservation system.”
“The Constitution drafted by Dr B R Ambedkar is not just a book, but it is the spirit of democracy, which Modi assaulted several times by bringing several controversial laws in the last ten years. They included three contentious farm laws, which he withdrew following massive agitation from farmers. BJP government may not change the cover page of the Constitution, but step-by-step they want to replace the provisions to implement the RSS agenda of scrapping the reservation,” he alleged.
Uttam Kumar Reddy slammed PM Modi for “misleading” the people by accusing the Congress of snatching away the reservation from SC, ST and BCs and giving it away to Muslims.
He challenged Modi to prove a single instance in history where a reservation quota belonging to one community was removed and given to another community, including Muslims.
He said PM Modi, Union minister Amit Shah and other BJP leaders are targeting the 4% Muslim reservation in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
He said in 2004-05, the 4% quota was given separately without touching the quota for other communities: SCs – 15%, ST – 6% and BCs – 25%. “BJP is trying to make a 20-year-old decision an election issue despite the fact that a Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court would take the final decision on a 4% Muslim quota,” he said.
He alleged that PM Modi was afraid of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s promise to conduct the caste census across the country and give every community its due share in resources and opportunities.
“Instead of cheating the Dalits, Adivasis and OBCs by promising to distribute only 4% of the quota after snatching it from Muslims, I challenge PM Modi to announce reservations for all communities in proportionate to their population as stipulated in Article 16 of the Constitution,” he remarked.
Uttam targets KCR
He also condemned BRS chief K Chandrashekhar Rao for “spreading lies” regarding the Congress government in Telangana.
He said KCR “did nothing” for the people in his nine-and-a-half-year rule, but he is assessing the performance of the Congress government, which did not even complete six months.
“Despite inheriting a bankrupt state with huge debts and pending bills, he said five out of six guarantees were fulfilled by the Congress government within 100 days of coming to power. Over 30,000 vacancies were filled in less than 90 days,” he added.
He said all the promises made with the people would be fulfilled after the Lok Sabha elections.
