Radiance News, Dec. 5:
The arrogance, lack of good governance and anti-incumbency has resulted in the gross debacle of K. Chandrashekar Rao’s party in the state. Denial of promises and failure to implement them further aggravated the poll prospect of his party. Given the thumping mandate to the Congress will enhance people’s expectations manifold but the government will have to deliver if they don’t want to be voted out next time.
Dr. Khalid Mubashshiruz Zafar, President of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, Telangana, while sharing his perspective on the verdict, told Radiance, “There is no doubt K. Chandrashekar Rao has done some good work but the sudden change of mind of the people was because of some fundamental problems which turned away not only the Muslims but also non-Muslims from the party to a great extent. It is generally believed that ABC factors – Arrogance, Beverages and Corruption – were responsible for his defeat. Turning away from the promises made and having failed to implement most of the policy programs were some other factors that led to his defeat, and above all anti-incumbency further aggravated KCR’s poll prospect.”
He further said, “KCR made the hypothetical promise of 12 percent reservation for Muslims when he was aware that it may not be possible and legally also it was not feasible. In the second term of KCR, when Muslims asked why the 12 percent promise was not implemented, he arrogantly replied, which went viral, ‘go and ask your baap (father)’, which meant the Muslim political leadership. This arrogance created a lot of problems.”
“KCR made so many lofty promises, mere tokenism or flimsy ones, about making the Old City like Singapore, which was next to impossible. He promised Muslims for Waqf Act and police reforms. He promised both Muslims and non-Muslims; but later either denied or failed to implement them. He took both Muslims and non-Muslims for granted and the result is before all of us,” said Dr K.M. Zafar.
On the decision-making process of KCR, he said, “The decision-making process of his government was confined to one family; even his ministers were also not very comfortable with him. Most surprisingly, under his rule Telangana was turned into a liquor state and it affected the lower class the most. The Waqf properties worth Rs. 70,000 crores have been reduced to almost half.”
On why people voted against him, Dr. Zafar said, “The people of Telangana gave full mandate to KCR twice. But in his very first tenure, KCR destroyed the Civil Society, NGOs and student bodies who had supported the cause of KCR for a separate Telangana. All those who had supported him earlier are now disenchanted. As for minorities, tall leaders of the community have been either isolated or destroyed in the same manner. MIM, which had opposed Telangana, became his best partner. Later, anti-Majlis elements became anti-KCR.”
On his expectations, he said, “We will also raise our issues and demand implementation of the pre-poll promises made by the Congress and those in their manifesto. We will continue to raise our voice for the minorities, weaker, deprived and marginalized sections as and when required. Based on our experience of the ground reality before and after assembly elections, we will also work for the Lok Sabha polls accordingly.”