“Hindus and Muslims are like my two eyes”. These are words of Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy. The CM and Congress leader has said this on many occasions to emphasise his ‘secular’ credentials and justify Muslim appeasement. Speaking at a public event on 13th August, CM Revanth Reddy boasted that Muslims are “biggest” beneficiaries of the 200-unit free electricity his government provides.
‘Muslims are biggest beneficiaries of free electricity scheme’: Telangana CM Revanth Reddy justifies Muslim appeasement as ‘secularism’
Addressing the Minorities Excellence Summit, Telangana CM Revanth Reddy said he is proud that while people used to say that residents of Old City do not pay electricity bills or steal power, Muslim minorities are now the biggest beneficiaries of the Congress government’s Gruha Jyothi social welfare scheme under which 200-unit free electricity is provided.
“People say citizens in the [Hyderabad] Old City steal electricity and don’t pay bills. I can proudly say minorities have benefited the most from our 200 units free electricity scheme…For me, Hindus and Muslims are not different. Hindus and Muslims are like my two eyes. Our government is working to ensure that the Muslims get what Hindus are getting,” CM Reddy said.
Interestingly, Hyderabad’s Old City has a Muslim majority, with 65% Muslims and 30% Hindus, alongside small populations of Christians, Sikhs, and Jains.
CM Reddy’s mention of Hyderabad’s Old City and boastful admission that people there were not paying electricity bills is significant.
Back in 2014, it was reported that around 50% of electricity supplied to the Old City is unaccounted for, with power pilferage being the main reason. The Central Power Distribution Company Limited (CPDCL) admitted that it suffered losses of Rs 69 lakh daily, and yet refrained from acting against power thieves due to interference from Muslim-appeasing political parties.
The CPDCL officials back then had lamented that whenever their teams went to register cases against those involved in power pilferage, political representatives would intervene and stop them from doing their duty.
In the Muslim-dominated Old City, the residents doing power pilferage would deliberately install meters inside the house, in violation of rules, and when CPDCL officials would visit for meter inspection, they would raise objections about ‘other men’ entering their houses.
Due to Muslim appeasement-driven political interventions in actions against meter tampering, hooking or pilferage, and non-payment of bills, the CPDCL has recorded massive Aggregate Technical and Commercial (ATC) losses in Old City.
In fact, CM Revanth Reddy had lamented in 2018 that households and shops in the Muslim-majority Old City do not pay electricity bills.
In 2023, it was reported that more than 20 lakh units of electricity are stolen per day in the Old City, incurring annual losses of around Rs 511 crore.
Congress government rewarded power pilferage by Old City Muslims with free electricity
While the losses to the state’s power corporation, the Telangana State Southern Power Distribution Corporation Limited (TSSPDCL), continued to rise, the Revanth Reddy-Congress government came up with its tried and tested ‘freebies’ solution.
In February 2024, the Congress government launched the Gruha Jyothi Scheme to provide free electricity up to 200 units for eligible low-income and white ration card holders.
While the scheme was not exclusively for Muslims, Chief Minister Revanth Reddy’s own boastful admission that “people complained about Old City Muslims don’t pay power bills, but now Muslims are the biggest beneficiaries of this free electricity scheme indicates the Congress government has essentially rewarded pilferage and violation of rules by Muslims.
CM Reddy audaciously acknowledged power pilferage by Muslims in the same breath as celebrating free supply to boast how secular he and his government are, converting a chronic revenue leak into political credit. Reddy did not explain how the menace of non-payment of power bills by Muslims could be “solved” by making them the biggest beneficiaries of free electricity.
This is the Congress model of secularism: reward pilferage and blatant violations of rules, and tolerate annual losses to the tune of hundreds of crores, to appease Muslims and secure their votes.
Such is the situation in Telangana that one after the other Muslim-appeasing parties are coming to power and openly boasting that the biggest beneficiaries of their welfare schemes are Muslims.
Basically, CM Reddy told Muslim attendees of the ‘minorities excellence’ program that “We know you steal power and don’t pay bills, and you deliberately install meters inside houses to get an excuse to prevent officials from checking meters, but it’s ok, we will give you free power, and legitimise your power theft.”
Revanth Reddy calls securing 4% Muslim reservation biggest demonstration of Congress’s action for ‘secularism’
To further burnish his government’s secular character, Chief Minister Revanth Reddy said that “Congress means secular”, and how they went beyond rhetoric and secured 4% reservation for Muslims.
“One must recall the time when Dr Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy (then Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh), Mohammed Ali Shabbir (a minister at the time), and Azad Sahab (who came from Delhi) assessed the condition of minorities and sought to make the youth stakeholders in the government. The Congress party stands for secularism; it views Hindus and Muslims as its two eyes. Moving beyond mere rhetoric to concrete action, and under the leadership of Sonia Gandhi, a 4% reservation was secured for minority brothers and sisters in this state.”
#WATCH | Hyderabad, Telangana: CM Revanth Reddy says, "One must recall the time when Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy (then Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh), Mohammed Ali Shabbir (a minister at the time), and Azad Sahab (who came from Delhi) assessed the condition of minorities and… pic.twitter.com/TxbaB9NV4P
— ANI (@ANI) August 13, 2026
Reddy further reminded the attendees of the Minorities Excellence Summit held on Thursday, when Union Home Minister Amit Shah had said that his party, the BJP, would oppose Muslim reservation in Telangana; Congress had declared that it would fight the BJP from “sadak to sansad” and to keep secularism alive.
Such is Congress’s desperation to appease Muslims that Reddy proudly said that even though his party’s Muslim candidates did not win state assembly elections, he inducted Mohammad Azharuddin as Minorities Affairs Minister to ensure Muslim representation.
Notably, back in 2004, the Congress government led by YS Rajasekhara Reddy issued an executive order for the implementation of 5% reservation for Muslims by deeming them as OBCs and creating a fifth category (OBC-E). The order was dismissed by the Andhra Pradesh High Court citing a 50% ceiling dictated by the Supreme Court in the Indra Sawhney vs Union of India judgment.
The judgment upheld the ceiling of 50% quota for states and prescribed 11 indicators to establish backwardness and establish the concept of qualitative exclusion, such as “creamy layer”. The Congress government then reduced the quota to 4%. The Congress government received strong criticism, and formed the Andhra Pradesh Commission for Backwards Classes.
In October 2005, an ordinance providing 5% reservation to Muslims in educational institutes and government jobs in Andhra Pradesh was issued and later made the Andhra Pradesh Reservation of Seats in the Educational Institutions and of Appointments or Posts in the Public Services under the State to Muslim Community Act, 2005.
The 5-judge bench of AP HC led by then Chief Justice Bilal Nazki struck down the Act, declaring it unconstitutional. The HC had found fault with the procedure adopted by the Andhra Pradesh Commission for Backward Classes in recommending the inclusion of Muslims in the list of notified backward classes.
Citing significant grounds for its verdict, the court found that the material placed before the Commission was insufficient to conclude that the Muslim community can be called a backward class and deserves a reservation.
The Congress party did not abandon its pursuit to secure Muslim reservation, and it formed an ordinance in 2007 and then passed the legislation titled the Andhra Pradesh Reservation for Socially and Educationally Backward Classes of Muslims Act. The Act provided 4% reservation to 15 categories of Muslims within the 50% limit. The court in February 2010 struck this down, saying that the methodology the Commission used to identify the beneficiaries was unsustainable.
However, the YSR-led Congress government moved a special leave petition in the Supreme Court to challenge the HC verdict. In March 2010, the SC upheld the validity of 4% reservation to Muslims in state education and jobs and passed the ruling in an interim order.
CM Revanth Reddy’s speech at the Thursday event came across as a presentation of his government’s report card before the Muslim community, of pro-Muslim actions, including implementation of 4% reservation, taken.
It must be recalled that in July 2025, it was reported that the Telangana Congress government led by CM Revanth Reddy was working on bringing increase Backward Classes quota to 42% in the state to accommodate more Muslims. Muslims make up about 12.58% of the state’s population. Out of this, about 10.08% are listed as BC Muslims while around 2.5% fall under the OC (Other Castes) category. The Congress party has been seeking to exceed the Muslim quota to 12%.
The Congress party openly glorifies its Muslim appeasement and passes it off as ‘secularism’. Revanth Reddy says that Hindus and Muslims are like his two eyes. However, expressing pride over how his policies are majorly benefiting rule-violating Muslims, and how they advocate more and more reservations for Muslims, indicates that Reddy holds his ‘Muslim eye’ dearer.
