Hanamkonda: Congress slams government as education becomes dearer in Telangana State

Hanamkonda (Warangal-U): Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) Minorities Department Chairman Shaik Abdullah Sohail said that education has become dearer in Telangana compared to other States. Launching a signature campaign against commercialisation of education in the State here on Wednesday, he said the Congress had launched this initiative on November 11, the birth anniversary of Moulana Azad, to pressurise the State government to form a regularity authority to monitor the functioning of private educational institutions.

He stated that education is a right and not a commodity. He said education has become expensive in the State compared to elsewhere in the country. Besides Hyderabad, he said private institutions were collecting exorbitant amounts from the students in cities like Warangal, Nizamabad and Karimnagar. He said that the TPCC Minorities Department would collect 10 lakh signatures before the January-end and submit it to Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan seeking her intervention on the issue.

Referring to the rise of BJP in national politics, he said that regional parties like TRS and self-proclaimed Muslim leadership played a major role in strengthening the saffron party. "Communal forces have grown stronger wherever Congress lost its strength. Therefore, to check communal forces, people should support the Congress," Abdullah Sohail said.

He said that while the TRS backed the BJP government at the Centre in all its moves, MIM helped BJP win large number of seats in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and other States by way of polarisation and division of secular votes. Warangal DCC President N Rajender Reddy criticised the State government for not focusing on issues related to education. "Lack of monitoring over the functioning of private institutions by the government agencies concerned turned education as a commodity in the market," Reddy said. Minority leaders Md Ayub, Mirza Azizulla Baig, Rahat Parveen, Obedulla and Naseem Jahan were among others present.