Vishnu Vardhan Reddy, the BJP general secretary of Andhra Pradesh has taken to Twitter to share how the YS Jagan Mohan Reddy Govt, has allegedly launched a drone pilot training program, only for candidates belonging to the two minority communities. According to the poster shared by the BJP leader, the course is being offered by the Drone Institute of Technology (DIT) in Andhra Pradesh. The ad published inviting aspirants to join the offline course specifically mentions that the course will provide free training and placement only to Christian and Muslim candidates.
Questioning the Andhra CM YS Jagan Mohan Reddy’s anti-Hindu bias, the BJP leader tweeted, “Everyone has the equal rights on the resources then why @AndhraPradeshCM has specifically kept training only for students of 2 communities? It could lead to communal tensions, Andhra gvt is doing very dirty politics with our students. They should take back this decision.”
As can be seen, the advertisement shared by the BJP leader states has the picture of CM YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on it along with the Emblem of Andhra Pradesh. It mentions, in rather bold letters, that the course has been developed to offer free training in drone flying and free placement subsequently, but strictly for Christians and Muslims only.
The poster also carries two numbers that aspirants can call on for registration or enquiry. However, when OpIndia tried to call, both numbers were constantly unreachable.
Notably, the opposition parties in Andhra Pradesh have always accused YS Jagan Reddy, a Christian, of spending huge on the services Christian community, with an eye on encouraging conversion activities, ever since he became the Chief Minister of Andhra.
Jagan’s anti-Hindu bias and his soft stance on conversion and the appeasement of a now-significant minority of Andhra Christians is an open secret. Experts have expressed their concerns regarding the spree of freebies doled out to the Christian communities by the YS Jagan Mohan Reddy-led Andhra Pradesh government with an aim to encourage ordinary Andhra citizens to convert to Christianity.
In fact, last year, the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) issued a notice to the Chief Secretary of Andhra Pradesh seeking a report regarding the action taken against the forceful conversions targeting the Scheduled Caste (SC) community in the state.
NCSC had taken cognisance after, the Hindu legal-activist group – Legal Rights Protection Forum and SC-ST Rights Forum, a non-profit legal activism organisation that works for Dalit rights, had, in January 2020 written a letter to National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) over rampant forced conversions activities by the Christian missionaries and Church.
In 2019, the Jagan government had hiked the financial assistance, which was being given to Christian pilgrims going to Jerusalem, from Rs 40,000 to Rs 60,000 for those with an annual income up to Rs 3 lakh. The assistance money given to those who are earning over Rs 3 lakh per annum has been increased to Rs 30,000.
In August 2019, Jagan’s government announced that they would provide an honorarium of Rs 5,000 per month to Christian pastors. The Andhra government is also working to launch housing schemes and financial assistance for the poorer sections of the Christian community.
As per the 2011 Census, the Christian community in Andhra Pradesh accounts for about 1.4% of the total population, however, the number of followers of the faith is estimated to be higher in the state due to the rising conversion phenomenon.