Jaganmohan Reddy is splashing taxpayers’ money on Waqf board to further his appeasement politics

YS Jaganmohan Reddy, the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh for the last two years, has spent thousands of crores of taxpayer’s money on conversion, the welfare of minority community, salaries of Imams and pastors, and so on. Now taking a step ahead in the same direction, his government is all set to build compound walls to protect the properties of the mosque.

Reddy has asked the state minority department to ensure the protection of waqf properties, and deploy Home Guards as needed. And the money for the wall as well as the Home Guards would come from the state treasury.

BJP leaders have called out this blatant minority appeasement. In a tweet on Monday, BJP Rajya Sabha MP GVL Narasimha Rao said, “CM Jagan directed authorities to protect waqf lands by constructing compound walls, but is this not the case with temple lands? Sell them, who cares?”

Right from the day the Jagan government was elected, it has opened the state treasury for the appeasement of minorities. In the very first budget of the government, Boggan Rajendranath, Minister for Finance, allotted a huge amount of public money for Imams and Christian Pastors. The government allotted a total of 2,106 crore rupees for minority welfare schemes in the budget.

“The honorarium to Imams is proposed to be enhanced to Rs 10,000 per month and of Mouzzans to Rs. 5,000 per month. Similarly, it is proposed to provide Pastors with an honorarium Rs. 5,000 per month,” said the finance minister of Andhra Pradesh in the budget speech.

The finance minister announced steps that can be construed as state intervention in Temple trusts while the Christian and Muslim religious organizations will be free to operate.  “For the political upliftment for OBC, SC, ST, and Minority communities, this Government is proposing to bring a Bill to provide 50% reservation in respect all nominated posts such as Temple Trust Boards, Marketyard Committees, Corporations, etc,” said the finance minister.

It is notable that Y. S. Jaganmohan Reddy comes from a Christian family. His father, late Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy who was two-term chief minister of the state under the Congress party also embraced minority appeasement on similar lines. Rama Navami, a major Hindu festival was removed from the state government-approved holidays, and holidays for Christians were increased. As the administration of the Tirumala Temple was under state government since 1993, YSR appointed Christian from the Christian faith in the administration of temples.

Taking cue from his father’s actions, Jaganmohan Reddy has taken minority appeasement a step further. His government decided to increase financial aid to Jerusalem and Hajj pilgrims by twenty thousand for those whose annual income was below 3 lakh rupees, and ten thousand, for those whose annual income exceeded 3 lakh.

A few months ago, the Andhra government issued tickets to travelers from Tirupati to the temple town of Tirumala with advertisements of Haj and Jerusalem pilgrimage on the back. While the Jagan government has worked overtime for the benefits of Christians and Muslims, the other lesser mortals are yet to see the YSRCP government have mercy upon them and fulfill promises made to them without asking them to convert.