New Delhi: Congress leaders, including Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, staged a massive protest at Delhi's Jantar Mantar on Wednesday, demanding immediate Presidential assent to the Backwards Classes Reservation Bills passed by the Telangana Assembly. The bills seek to enhance the quota for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) to 42% in education, employment, and local governance.

Calling it a “national call for justice,” Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also weighed in on the issue. In a post on X, she termed the legislation "historic" and said the delay in its approval was an injustice to marginalised communities. “Justice delayed is justice denied,” she wrote, expressing solidarity with the protest.

Rahul Gandhi also voiced the same concern. “I am grateful to INDIA leaders who voiced their support, and hope the Hon'ble President will take note and assent. This fight is not just for Telangana. It is a collective fight to ensure that Indians from marginalised communities have their rightful share in power and progress,” he wrote on X.

The bills, passed in March, are currently pending Presidential assent. While the Telangana Governor has already cleared them, Congress leaders allege that the BJP-led Centre is deliberately holding them up due to political motives.

Addressing the media at the protest site, CM Revanth Reddy accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of being “anti-OBC.”

“We are pro-OBC. Rahul Gandhi is pro-OBC. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is anti-OBC. We will see how to give this reservation. If he won't give this time, we will defeat him in the coming election. The prime minister is least bothered about the caste census. His intentions are there against OBC,” Reddy said.

He also slammed the BJP’s allegations that a portion of the proposed 42% quota would benefit Muslims under the guise of backward classes.