Follow TNM's WhatsApp channel for news updates and story links.
Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy on Friday, August 14, said that students from minority communities are skilled labourers and not bright students. The statement was made at the Minority Excellence Summit in Hyderabad.
“[Minority students] see and learn. But if they are asked to study, they forget at once. Give them a Rafael (French fighter aircraft), they will assemble it with ease. But they cannot study. So we developed ITIs (Industrial Training Institutes) for them to help become skilled labourers,” CM Revanth said. ITIs are vocational training centres.
Not only was the statement prejudicial, but also factually incorrect. In response to a query in the Rajya Sabha in March 2025, Union Minister for Minority Affairs Kiren Rijiju had said that the literacy rate among Muslims has increased substantially.
“As per Census 2001, the literacy rate among Muslims aged seven years and above was 59.1% while the all-India literacy rate for the same age-group was 64.8%. In comparison, in the 2011 Census, the literacy rate among Muslims aged seven years and above was 68.5% as compared to all-India literacy rate of 73.0%. Thus, the literacy rate among Muslims has increased by 9.4%,” he said adding that as per the Periodic Labour Force Survey’s (PLFS) annual report for 2023-24, the literacy rate among Muslims was 79.5% for persons aged seven years and above.
Following the CM’s statement, several X users slammed CM Revanth for his comments linking ability to religion.
“One of those communal stereotypes which is deeply rooted in casteism. Reddy would be aware that Syeds had played a big role in Hyderabad's bureaucracy & professions because of Nizam patronage. But this is directed at Muslim backward castes, which Sanghis (& ex Sanghis) look down upon (sic),” one X user stated.
“Casteist ideas everywhere! Unless you create opportunities for quality early education as a governance goal, and create a culture of academic pursuit in these communities with financial support, how do you expect the historically marginalised to be comfortable in classrooms?” another user asked.
This is not the first time Chief MInister Revanth has made such statements. As the Telangana Pradesh Congress Party (TPCC) president, Revanth in March 2022 had said that then chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) was looting Telangana with the help of a ‘Bihari mafia’.
"Telangana Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar, Municipal Administration Secretary Arvind Kumar, another senior IAS officer Sandeep Sultania, Irrigation Secretary Rajat Kumar and Incharge DGP IPS Anjani Kumar all hail from Bihar. The Bihar batch is ruling the state," he stated while making a case for IAS officers from Telangana.
The statement, while pushing the regional sentiment, also was read by many as contempt for Biharis. Revanth also stated, “KCR's DNA belongs to Bihar. KCR's caste is Kurmi…My DNA is from Telangana. Telangana DNA is better than Bihar DNA.”
Many, including former political strategist and founder of the Jan Swaraj Party Prashanth Kishore, slammed Revanth Reddy for these comments. “Rahul Gandhi has no right to ask for votes in Bihar when his party’s leader makes such disparaging comments in Telangana,” Prashanth Kishore had said ahead of the Bihar Assembly polls in 2025.
In May 2022, at a public meeting in Kodangal (the constituency he represents), Revanth had also said that “on any given day, Reddys are better than Velamas in providing leadership and steering a state to development.”