All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi made several critical remarks on the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government in Telangana on Tuesday, May 30, while rejecting the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s narrative that the BRS was focused on appeasement of Muslim voters in the state. Speaking at a public meeting, Owaisi slammed Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s remarks during his Hyderabad visit in May 2022, when he alleged that the steering wheel of the BRS car (the party’s election symbol) was in Owaisi’s hands.
“If the steering was in my hand, the pending stretch of the metro line in Old City would have been completed,” Owaisi said. He also said that the BRS government had not acted on a proposal by the AIMIM to extend the Dalit Bandhu scheme (of Rs 10 lakh financial assistance) to poor Muslim families.
Alleging that the BRS government had prioritised spending on developing Hindu temples over funds for minority welfare in Telangana, Owaisi said, “Why does BJP claim that there is Muslim appeasement [in Telangana]? A Brahmin Sadan has been set up [in Hyderabad], not Islamic Centre.” He listed various temples and projects, such as the upcoming Hare Krishna Heritage Tower in Hyderabad, the Bhadrachalam Ram temple, the Kondagattu Anjaneya Swamy temple, and others, for which the state government has allocated crores of rupees.
Owaisi denied the BJP’s claims that he held sway over Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao and his government, and rejected the narrative that Muslims were hoarding jobs and other opportunities in Telangana. Assembly elections are scheduled to be held in Telangana later this year, and the BJP has repeatedly promised to remove Muslim reservation in the state if voted to power, a move the party adopted in Karnataka right before facing a huge defeat in the recently concluded Assembly elections in the state.
Owaisi said, “If the steering was in my hand, then the five to six kilometres of metro line in Old City would have come up by now. The BRS government is laying metro line from Mindspace Junction to Shamshabad (the airport metro line) at a cost of over Rs 5,680 crore, but the Old City stretch till Falaknuma, which needs Rs 500 crore, is pending. The BHEL-Old City metro line got cancelled. But [BJP] claims the steering is in my hands.”
He also stated that in September 2021, AIMIM had given BRS a proposal to implement a scheme for Muslim families along the lines of Dalit Bandhu, wherein Dalit households are provided financial assistance of Rs 10 lakh. He said that implementing the scheme for Muslim families living below the poverty line (BPL) in Telangana would cost the government around Rs 900 crore, but the BRS government hadn’t acted on the proposal.
Noting that the BRS government has allocated crores of rupees towards the development of various Hindu temples in the state and for the welfare of temple priests/archakas, Owaisi said, “I don’t mind that the state government is spending [crores of rupees] on temples… If I have the steering, do you want these things or not?” addressing supporters of BJP. He also referred to a recent incident of violence against a Muslim woman in Jagtial, to underline his argument that Muslims were not receiving preferential treatment under the BRS government.