Congress to launch "One Million Yes' campaign

Hyderabad, April 2 (INN): Greater Hyderabad Congress Committee (GHCC) Minorities Department chairman Shaik Abdullah Sohail informed that the Congress party is all set to launch a massive campaign to pressurise the TRS Government to provide promised 12% quota for Muslims in jobs and education.

The campaign titled "One Million Yes for 12% Muslim Reservation" will be launched on Monday at Gandhi Bhavan. TPCC President N. Uttam Kumar Reddy and other top leaders would flag off the campaign by signing on a giant flexi. Abdullah Sohail said that the GHCC Minorities Department would collect 10 lakh signatures from people across the Greater Hyderabad in favour of 12% Muslim quota. He said that Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao has promised to give 12% Muslim quota while addressing an election meeting at Shadnagar of Mahabubnagar district on April 20, 2014. "KCR had promised to give 12% Muslim reservation within four months after coming to power. But nothing has been done by the TRS Government to fulfill its promise. The Sudhir Commission of Enquiry was constituted only to buy more time while rejecting the community's demand for constitution of a BC Commission. This entire exercise is an eye wash," he said.

Abdullah Sohail said that people would be able to give their nod for 12% Muslim quota by signing a hard copy, sending a SMS, message to WhatsApp Groups, en email or by liking a page on Facebook. People will also be able to express their support for 12% Muslim quota by signing an online petition. "Since a majority of people in Hyderabad are active on Social Media, we are planning to reach out to them using this platform. Initially, we want to collect nod from 10 lakh people on 12% Muslim reservation. These details would then be forwarded to the Chief Minister with a request to fulfill his poll promise," he said.

The Congress leaders will be collecting signatures on all major streets of Hyderabad and outside educational institutions and offices.

"The Congress party provided 5% Muslim reservation within 56 days after coming to power in 2004. It had a strong political will and commitment and therefore, it was able to implement its promise despite legal hurdles. But the TRS Government is delaying the issue on one pretext or the other. The TRS Government has already given two extensions to Sudhir Commission and there is no deadline for it to submit the report. The process, which the Chief Minister proposes to adopt, is nothing but an open bid to delay and dilute the process. KCR should simply emulate the process adopted by previous Congress Govt to provide 5% Muslim quota which was later reduced to 4% due to legal complications," Abudullah Sohail said.

He appealed to the people to support the 'One Million Yes for 12% Muslim Reservation' campaign by selecting any mode so as to build pressurize the TRS Government to fulfill its major election promise.