The Congress government in Telangana has given relaxations to Muslims employed in the state government sector by cutting short their working hours during the Ramzan season. As per the circular dated February 15, issued by Santhi Kumari, Chief Secretary to Telangana government, employees can leave office by 4 pm starting March 2 and the relaxation will be in effect till March 31.
"Government hereby permits all the government Muslim employees/ teachers/ contract/ outsourcing/ boards/ corporations and public sector companies working in the state to leave their offices/ schools by 4 pm during the holy month of Ramzan…to offer necessary prayers, except when their presence is required due to exigencies of services during the above period," read the contents of the circular.
The BJP has taken offence to the move, alleging “minority appeasement”. One of the first to react was controversial BJP MLA Raja Singh.
“I am questioning CM Revanth Reddy on this. Navarathri is a big festival of the Hindus and they fast for 9 days. Didn’t you get this thought then to release a similar circular? Why is your government indifferent towards Hindu festivals? Your police even booked cases against Hindus who were celebrating their festivals. Your police even warned that they will file cases against those who play music during the Ramanavami festival. Can’t you see all this? Remove the thought if you feel that you only won because of Muslim votes and not Hindu votes,” said Raja Singh in a video message released on this occasion.
The national leadership of the BJP also reacted to the circular. BJP co-incharge of West Bengal and a vocal party leader, Amit Malviya tweeted: “The appeasement bug strikes the Congress government in Telangana, which has approved relaxed work hours for Muslim state employees during Ramzan. No such concessions are ever granted to Hindus when they fast during Navratri. This tokenism isn’t about being sensitive to the religious beliefs of one community but about reducing them to a mere vote bank. It should be opposed.”
However, this is not the first time that Telangana government has decided to decrease work hours for Muslims. In 2022, the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government also announced a similar relaxation. Then Chief Secretary of Telangana, Somesh Kumar also issued a circular to all government departments which was meant to relieve Muslims early during Ramzan season.