If AP is split, Majlis wants Seema in Greater T, Hyderabad as capital

The Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) for the first time on Sunday stated that if the bifurcation of the state became inevitable, it would prefer ‘Greater Telangana’ comprising Telangana and Rayalaseema areas. It would however prefer the state to be united.

The MIM also stated that it wanted Hyderabad to be the capital of Greater Telangana, and opposed making the city into a separate state, or hiving it off as a Union Territory

The MIM formally stated its stand in a 150-page report that it submitted to the Justice Srikrishna panel on Sunday. The MIM was submitted by the party chief, Mr Asaduddin Owaisi, to the committee on Sunday.

“Our party is of the considered opinion that in the ideal situation the continuance of status quo, that is, united Andhra Pradesh state is in the overall interest of the minorities,” the MIM report stated.

“Muslims have issues and concerns with regard to the demand for statehood for Telangana because of apprehensions regarding their safety, security and socio-economic well being and welfare in a smaller state, more so because of the open hostility of the BJP and constituents of the Sangh Parivar on the one hand and the deep-rooted animosity of the Left parties on the other hand towards them,” the report stated.

Mr Owaisi accused the Congress, TD, BJP, TRS and Praja Rajyam of using separate Telangana cause as a bogey for their vested interests.

Mr Owaisi stated that backwardness and the contention that bifurcation is a longstanding demand cannot be the twin criteria for formation of new states.

Similar demands in other states will only open a Pandora’s box if the Centre goes on dividing large states to form smaller ones, he said.

Mr Owaisi submitted that formation of the states of Jharkhand, Chattisgarh and Uttarakhand has hardly improved the lot of the minorities, particularly Muslims, in those states as well as the parent states of Bihar, MP and UP.

The minorities continue to suffer in all these states and they have been marginalised not only politically but also economically, socially and educationally, he stated.