Owaisi slams Kishan Reddy's reported comments on terror in Hyderabad
Hyderabad, Jun 1: Hitting out at Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy for his reported comment that Hyderabad has become a safe zone for terrorists, AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi Saturday said such remarks will hurt the city's image.
Reddy assumed charge as minister of state for home in Delhi on Saturday.
"He (Reddy) did not even take charge of his post, but makes such... comments. I am asking him, and his ministry tell people of Hyderabad how many written advisories NIA, IB and RAW gave in the last five years that Hyderabad is becoming a den for terror," Owaisi told reporters.
It is lamentable that such comments are made although peace prevails in Hyderabad for the last five years, said the AIMIM chief, who is also the MP from Hyderabad.
Hyderabad is second only after Bengaluru in software exports in the country, Owaisi claimed.
Reddy could not be reached for comments.
The AIMIM president asked, "Why do they have this enmity towards Telangana, Hyderabad. Don't they like (to see) Hyderabad grow..."
"Big companies are coming (to the city) and the minister of home speaks such things. It conveys how much hatred they have for Telangana and Hyderabad," Owaisi said.
BJP leaders fear that investment is coming to Telangana under the leadership of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, he alleged.
On ISIS sympathisers being found in Hyderabad, he asked whether such people have not been caught in Uttar Pradesh in the highest number. "Has that (UP) become a den," he said.
"...Because, it is their mentality. Wherever they see a Muslim, they feel that he is a terrorist," Owaisi said.
Claiming that hate crimes against Muslims are happening at places like Gurugram and Begusarai even after Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke (about inclusiveness), he said mere lip service would not do.
"Their policy that..Modi would say one thing and Kishan (Reddy) would say something else. Modi would say one thing and VHP would say something else....
"It is their theory of confusion. They keep practicing that... We have understood them. That's why I say, you practice," he said.
Noting that composite culture prevails in Telangana where progress is being achieved under the leadership of Chief Minister Rao, Owaisi claimed the BJP would prove to be unsuccessful in its attempts to grow in Telangana.
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Single higher education regulator bill tabled in LS; Oppn flags ‘centralisation,' JPC likely
New Delhi: A bill to set up a 13-member body to regulate institutions of higher education was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Monday.
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan introduced the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, which seeks to establish an overarching higher education commission along with three councils for regulation, accreditation, and ensuring academic standards for universities and higher education institutions in India.
Meanwhile, the move drew strong opposition, with members warning that it could weaken institutional autonomy and result in excessive centralisation of higher education in India.
The Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, 2025, earlier known as the Higher Education Council of India (HECI) Bill, has been introduced in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
The proposed legislation seeks to merge three existing regulatory bodies, the University Grants Commission (UGC), the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), and the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE), into a single unified body called the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan.
At present, the UGC regulates non-technical higher education institutions, the AICTE oversees technical education, and the NCTE governs teacher education in India.
Under the proposed framework, the new commission will function through three separate councils responsible for regulation, accreditation, and the maintenance of academic standards across universities and higher education institutions in the country.
According to the Bill, the present challenges faced by higher educational institutions due to the multiplicity of regulators having non-harmonised regulatory approval protocols will be done away with.
The higher education commission, which will be headed by a chairperson appointed by the President of India, will cover all central universities and colleges under it, institutes of national importance functioning under the administrative purview of the Ministry of Education, including IITs, NITs, IISc, IISERs, IIMs, and IIITs.
At present, IITs and IIMs are not regulated by the University Grants Commission (UGC).
Government to refer bill to JPC; Oppn slams it
The government has expressed its willingness to refer it to a joint committee after several members of the Lok Sabha expressed strong opposition to the Bill, stating that they were not given time to study its provisions.
Responding to the opposition, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said the government intends to refer the Bill to a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) for detailed examination.
Congress Lok Sabha MP Manish Tewari warned that the Bill could result in “excessive centralisation” of higher education. He argued that the proposed law violates the constitutional division of legislative powers between the Union and the states.
According to him, the Bill goes beyond setting academic standards and intrudes into areas such as administration, affiliation, and the establishment and closure of university campuses. These matters, he said, fall under Entry 25 of the Concurrent List and Entry 32 of the State List, which cover the incorporation and regulation of state universities.
Tewari further stated that the Bill suffers from “excessive delegation of legislative power” to the proposed commission. He pointed out that crucial aspects such as accreditation frameworks, degree-granting powers, penalties, institutional autonomy, and even the supersession of institutions are left to be decided through rules, regulations, and executive directions. He argued that this amounts to a violation of established constitutional principles governing delegated legislation.
Under the Bill, the regulatory council will have the power to impose heavy penalties on higher education institutions for violating provisions of the Act or related rules. Penalties range from ₹10 lakh to ₹75 lakh for repeated violations, while establishing an institution without approval from the commission or the state government could attract a fine of up to ₹2 crore.
Concerns were also raised by members from southern states over the Hindi nomenclature of the Bill. N.K. Premachandran, an MP from the Revolutionary Socialist Party representing Kollam in Kerala, said even the name of the Bill was difficult to pronounce.
He pointed out that under Article 348 of the Constitution, the text of any Bill introduced in Parliament must be in English unless Parliament decides otherwise.
DMK MP T.M. Selvaganapathy also criticised the government for naming laws and schemes only in Hindi. He said the Constitution clearly mandates that the nomenclature of a Bill should be in English so that citizens across the country can understand its intent.
Congress MP S. Jothimani from Tamil Nadu’s Karur constituency described the Bill as another attempt to impose Hindi and termed it “an attack on federalism.”
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