Shabbir Ali accuses CM KCR of neglecting minorities

Hyderabad, February 7: Former Minister & ex-Leader of Opposition in Telangana Legislative Council Mohammed Ali Shabbir alleged that Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao has reportedly halted the re-construction of two mosques in the new State Secretariat.

Shabbir Ali, in a media statement on Monday, said that the Chief Minister reportedly ordered the authorities not to take up the re-construction of two mosques in the State Secretariat, whose foundation stones were laid on 25th November, 2021. “Except for the foundation stone, which was laid by a selective group of religious and political leaders invited by the government in a secretive manner, no other work for reconstruction of relocated mosques has been taken up,” he alleged.

The Congress leader said that the Masjid-e-Moatamadi and Masjid-e- Hashmi, located in the Secretariat premises, were illegally demolished on the intervening night of 7th-8th July 2020. “After outright denial of demolition of mosques by the Chief Minister, the State Government finally confessed before the High Court that both the religious structures were razed to the ground. Later, CM KCR promised on multiple occasions that the government would re-construct the demolished mosques at their original place. After 16 months of demolition, the TRS Govt enacted the drama of laying foundation stone and even after 75 days, not a brick has been laid to reconstruct the mosques,” he said.

Further, the Congress leader alleged that the area earmarked for the relocated mosques in the new Secretariat premises, which was shown to the leaders who laid the foundation stone, has been reduced by almost two-third to facilitate road expansion by another 25 metres. This was done at the instance of the Chief Minister, he alleged.

Shabbir Ali alleged that CM KCR was trying to play with fire. “You are deliberately hurting the sentiments of Muslim community repeatedly. On one side, you are claiming to be secular. On the other side, you are attacking the religious sentiments and beliefs of Muslim community. You may have a few Muslim leaders, who sold out their conscience, on your side. But you cannot fool the entire Muslim community. We are not asking you to demolish the Secretariat to build a mosque. We are just demanding the reconstruction of two mosques and also a temple which you illegally demolished to construct a new Secretariat. You will be committing political suicide if you continue to hurt the religious sentiments,” Shabbir Ali advised CM KCR while demanding that both the mosques be re-constructed at the original sites without further delay.

He said CM KCR has cheated the Muslims on the promise of 12% reservation. He came to power on the promise of implementing 12% Muslim reservation within four months after coming to power. Even after seven years, this remained unimplemented and KCR and other TRS leaders have even stopped making a mention of it in their speeches, he said.

Shabbir Ali also slammed the Chief Minister over the construction of a Rubaat in Ajmer Sharif. “It is ridiculous that every year since 2016, on the occasion of Urs-e-Shareef of Hazrat Khwaja Ghreeb Nawaz, TRS Govt makes a statement that a Rubaat in Ajmer would be constructed soon. If the State Government has already purchased one acre of land in Ajmer, then why is the construction of Rubaat delayed? We seriously suspect the claims of purchase of land in Ajmer by the Telangana Govt. It should place the purchase documents in public domain and explain the real reasons for the delay,” he said.

The Congress leader also condemned the TRS Govt for making the Ghilaaf-e-Mubarak sent to Dargah Ajmer Sharif in pink colour. The Ghilaf-e-Mubarak, across the country, are in green colour. But CM KCR got it replaced with pink colour to symbolise it with TRS party’s official colour. Further, he said that the Ghilaaf-e-Mubarak on behalf of the State Government could not be sent from TRS Bhavan. “If it was sent officially then it must have been sent from the Pragathi Bhavan, the official residence of the Chief Minister, or the Ministers’ Quarters, the official residence of Home Minister Mahmood Ali. But if it was sent by the TRS party, then what were the officials of the Minorities Department doing at TRS Bhavan? The State Government must issue a clarification in this regard,” he demanded.

Shabbir Ali said the construction of orphanage Anees-ul-Ghurba and an auditorium in Jamia Nizamia have been inordinately delayed. “The foundation stone for the construction of Jamia Nizamia auditorium at a cost of Rs. 14 Crore was laid by the Chief Minister in 2015. Even after seven years, the works are yet to be completed. On the other hand, TRS Govt had spent nearly Rs. 1800 crore for the renovation of Yadadri Temple and the works were taken up at a brisk pace due to the personal interest taken by the Chief Minister. He said CM KCR personally inspected the works at least once in three months. However, he did not visit the Jamia Nizamia even once after laying the foundation stone seven years ago. This clearly shows that CM KCR has no interest in projects related to minorities. Similarly, the Hyderabad International Islamic Cultural Convention Centre, announced by CM KCR in October 2017, is yet to see the light of the day.

The Congress leader demanded that CM KCR adopt a balanced and genuinely secular approach in taking up development of all communities in Telangana. He said no party or leader had survived politically after he was caught cheating a particular community. Therefore, CM KCR should restrain from cheating the minorities by wearing a fake mask of secularism.