Hyderabad: Telangana Jagruthi President and BRS MLC K Kavitha on Tuesday warned the Centre that not a single Delhi-bound train from the South will be allowed to move through Telangana if it fails to approve the bill granting 42 per cent reservations to Backward Classes (BCs).
Kavitha, who called for a ‘Rail Roko’ protest on July 17, demanding Presidential assent to the BC reservation bill passed by the Telangana Assembly, threatened an indefinite ‘Rail Roko’ while addressing a news conference in the national capital on Tuesday.
“We won’t allow even a single train to move. Trains from Deccan to Delhi will be stopped. This is just a trailer. If the bill is not approved, we’ll go for an indefinite Rail Roko. The 2.5 crore BC population in Telangana will teach the BJP a lesson,” she said.
The BRS MLA accused both the BJP and the Congress of betraying the BCs and added that she would write letters to all political parties seeking support for the implementation of BC reservations.
Kavitha alleged that the Congress-led government passed the BC reservation bill in the state Assembly and sent it to the President, only to wash its hands of the matter.
She demanded that as an interim measure, the Revanth Reddy government in Telangana issue a Government Order (GO) implementing the enhanced reservations in accordance with provisions under Article 243(D) of the Constitution.
She questioned why Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, who goes around the country with a copy of the Constitution, is not advising the Telangana Chief Minister to issue such a GO.
Kavitha also alleged that Rahul Gandhi’s concern for BCs began only after Congress lost power in 2014. Kavitha pointed out that even Congress-ruled states like Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh have not conducted caste censuses yet.
She urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who identifies himself as an OBC, to ensure justice for BCs by taking steps for Presidential assent to the Telangana BC reservation bills. She proposed that the Telangana BC bill be included in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution, similar to Tamil Nadu’s 69 per cent reservation policy.
Attacking both the Congress and the BJP, Kavitha said both parties have repeatedly deceived the BC communities. She slammed the eight BJP MPs elected from Telangana for remaining silent on the issue.
Kavitha pointed out that the implementation of the EWS (Economically Weaker Sections) quota has already pushed reservation limits beyond 50 per cent, and 16 states have implemented reservations above this threshold. Therefore, legal hurdles in implementing 42 per cent BC reservations in Telangana do not hold ground.
She also highlighted flaws in the caste census conducted by the Congress government. The 2014 comprehensive family survey during the previous BRS government under former Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao indicated that BCs make up 52 per cent of the population, whereas the new survey claims the figure is only 46 per cent.
Taking a jibe at Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, she said he spends more time in Delhi than in Telangana and sarcastically remarked that he’s already hit a “half-century” in Delhi visits.
Kavitha emphasised that regional parties are more committed to public welfare and cited examples of Akhilesh Yadav in Uttar Pradesh, Naveen Patnaik in Odisha, and the late Jayalalithaa in Tamil Nadu as leaders who effectively ensured the welfare and progress of their people.
(IANS)
