TSR best social worker, says Tariq Anwar

Visakhapatnam: Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Processing Industries Tariq Anwar said Rajya Sabha member and chairman of Parliamentary Committee on Science & Technology, Forests and Environment T Subbarami Reddy was the best social worker. Mr Anwar, who was here on Saturday to launch the TSR Fishermen Welfare Forum in the evening, addressed a well-attended meeting of TSR Muslim Welfare Forum in Hindi. He said TSR had opted to serve all sections of people irrespective of caste, creed or religion by establishing many fora like TSR Muslim Welfare Forum, TSR SC, ST Welfare Forum, TSR Kreeda Peetham, TSR Women Welfare Forum and TSR Fishermen Welfare Forum. "Ours is a secular setup and we have the freedom of speech and freedom of voting right. Even after 65 years of Independence, there is a need to uplift many sections of people," he said. To thwart the attempts of some communal parties to get vote bank, the UPA government, headed by Manmohan Singh, had introduced a 15-point welfare formula to uplift all SC, ST, BC and Minority sections, he said. Thanking TSR for giving him an opportunity to meet such a large gathering, the Union minister assured all help to the Muslim brethren.

All India Congress Committee (AICC) secretary and Andhra Pradesh Congress Affairs In-charge KB Krishna Murty said it was great that TSR had taken up the task of helping poorer sections with an open heart by forming various 'apolitical' organisations. "We had a lot of teething problems and we were not able to live in peace after the British had left the country. Luckily, our country is not in wrong hands," he said. Mr Krishna Murty said great Muslim personalities were given coveted posts like President of India, Vice-President, Supreme Court Chief Justice, Supreme Court judges and also the AICC general secretary post, which was an indication that the Congress was a secular party. Complimenting Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy for his work, he said Mr Reddy was introducing various welfare schemes. He called upon the people to encourage the secular party and to protect India after identifying those parties which join non-secular communal parties of convenience. Referring to the plea made by former MLA SA Rehman, he assured that Muslim brethren would be given priority in nominated posts of the party. In his speech, TSR said that he was following the spiritual philosophy taught by Eswar-Allah 'Love all and help the poor'. He said elections would come and go, but he would continue to serve the poor. Another AICC secretary and MLC Ponguleti Sudhakar Reddy described TSR as 'a man of all sections'. The UPA government had allocated Rs 1,000 crore for the welfare of Muslims in the present Budget, he informed. He cautioned the Muslims to be cautious about communal parties and India needed a secular party like the Congress for all-round development. Mr Rehman, who presided over the meeting, appealed to Mr Tariq Anwar and Mr Krishna Murty to accord importance to those Muslim leaders who excelled in service. Government Whip Dronamraju Srinivas and MLA Dr Malla Vijay Prasad were present. Later, the Union minister felicitated former corporators Md Badrunisa, Md Gouse and many Muslim elders on the occasion.