Congress deceived minorities in budget, says Abdullah Sohail

The Congress government had delivered only Rs.3,003 crore budget for minority welfare whereas it promised a budget of Rs 4,000 crore earlier, says BRS leader Shaik Abdullah Sohail

Hyderabad: BRS leader Shaik Abdullah Sohail said the Congress government had failed to deliver on its promise of a Rs.4,000 crore budget for minority welfare and a Minorities Sub-Plan for the State.

Responding to the budget, Sohail pointed out that only Rs.3,003 crore was allocated for minority welfare. He noted that in the Vote-on-Account budget presented on February 10, the amount was only Rs 2,262 crore. Following criticism from the BRS, the Congress government increased the amount to Rs 3,003 crore. However, the Congress party had actually promised to increase the minority welfare budget to Rs 4,000 crore, along with a dedicated Minorities Sub-Plan. By not honoring this electoral promise, the Congress government had cheated the State’s minorities, he said.

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Sohail reminded that on November 10 last year, the Congress had released a Minority Declaration, making specific promises to the minorities. Of the 12 major promises in the declaration, seven were directly related to budgetary allocations. These included increasing the minority welfare budget to Rs 4,000 crore, a dedicated Minorities Sub-Plan, and Rs 1,000 crore annually to provide subsidized loans for jobless minority youth and women. Other promises included the implementation of the Abdul Kalam Taufa-e-Taleem Scheme to provide financial assistance to Muslim, Christian, Sikh, and other minority youth completing M.Phil. and Ph.D. programs, with additional amounts for various educational levels.

“Why is there no mention of Taufa-e-Taleem and other promised schemes in the budget speech?” he asked.

The Congress had promised a monthly honorarium of Rs10,000 – 12,000 for priests of all religions, including Imams, Muezzins, Khadims, Pastors, and Granthis. It also assured the provision of house sites and Rs 5 lakhs for constructing houses for all houseless minority families under the Indiramma Indlu Scheme. Newlywed couples from Muslim, Christian, Sikh, and other minority communities were also promised Rs 1,60,000. “Why were no allocations made to fulfill these promises? he asked.