Congress dares Mahmood Ali to visit demolition site in Secretariat

Hyderabad, July 13: The Congress party has strongly condemned the statement of Home Minister Mahmood Ali wherein he targetted opposition parties over their protest against demolition of two mosques and a temple in the Secretariat complex.

Hyderabad Congress Minorities Dept Chairman Sameer Waliullah, TPCC Spokesperson Syed Nizamuddin and TPCC General Secretary SK Afzaluddin issued a joint statement on Monday ridiculing the assurance being given by the Home Minister that the State Government would construct a new mosque and temple along with the new Secretariat. "Everyone in Telangana knows that Mahmood Ali is a toothless tiger. He is a dummy minister and a rubber stamp who has no powers even to appoint or suspend a Home Guard. He has no entry in the Pragathi Bhavan and is not allowed to sit along with Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao during his press conferences. Therefore, he should not give assurances on behalf of CM KCR as he has no such powers," the Congress leaders said in their statement.

The Congress leaders said that the Home Minister had no powers to enter the Secretariat where two mosques and a temple were demolished. "If Mahmood Ali has genuine powers, then let him visit the Secretariat and give assurance of re-construction by standing in front of the demolished mosque site. They should also show to the people the extent of damage caused to the mosque and temple due to demolition of other structures. Mahmood Ali's assurance is totally vague and dummy and he is only trying to draw CM KCR's attention by targetting opposition parties," they said.

They said that the Home Minister was habitual of giving false assurances. They asked Mahmood Ali to first explain as to why the 200-year-old Ek Khana Masjid at Amberpet, which was demolished by the GHMC for road expansion, was not re-constructed even after one year.

The Congress leaders also condemned Mahmood Ali for targetting Congress senior leader and former minister Mohammed Ali Shabbir on the issue. They pointed out that one of the mosques which was demolished by TRS Govt was constructed when Shabbir Ali was the minister. They asked Mahmood Ali to check the foundation stone from debris in the Secretariat to verify whether or not it was Shabbir Ali who laid the foundation stone and inaugurated the mosque. Further, they said as the then minister, it was Shabbir Ali who acquired the land for the present Haj House and also constructed the entire building.

"The first residential school for minorities, mass marriages of poor Muslim girls and lot of other schemes which present TRS Govt has only renamed were started during Shabbir Ali's reign as the State minister. In fact, it was Shabbir Ali who constituted the country's first ever Minorities Welfare Department and introduced a dedicated budget for Minorities Welfare in 1993-94. The ongoing 4% reservation in jobs and education, which so far benefitted nearly 20 lakh poor Muslims, was brought by Shabbir Ali in the Congress Govt headed by Dr. Y.S. Rajashekhara Reddy in 2004. Mahmood Ali had no courage to force KCR to fulfil the promise of 12% Muslims reservation. Therefore, Mahmood Ali should think twice before criticising the Congress party or Shabbir Ali," they said.

"Mahmood Ali never contested any elections and will never win a Corporator's seat on his own. They had earned his present position by way of sycophancy and slavery. Therefore, he should restrain from targeting the Congress to score a few points before CM KCR. He is more loyal to KCR than to his own community and religion. Morally, he should've resigned from the post for his failure to prevent demolition of three mosques under the TRS regime. He not only continued on the post, but shamelessly defended the demolitions and demolisher," the Congress leader said in the statement.