Adilabad: Chennur Congress MLA Gaddam Vivek said on Sunday that there are nearly 30 lakh Mala people in Telangana, but some sections are showing their number as far less, which is incorrect.Vivek has been touring the districts to unite the Malas and is planning a public meeting in Hyderabad in the third week of November to demonstrate their strength. He participated as the chief guest in the first ‘Mala and Mala Employees Athmeeya Sammelanam’ in Adilabad town on Sunday.He appealed to the state government and all political parties to do justice to the Malas, whose number is nearly 30 lakh in Telangana, and stressed the need for unity among the Malas to protect their rights.Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, Vivek said the Supreme Court, in a recent judgment on Scheduled Castes (SC) categorisation, insisted on the collection of empirical data about the status and employment of Scheduled Castes before taking a decision. He added that a fresh census can provide a clear picture of the status of Scheduled Castes in the state.He said the Telangana government has constituted a judicial commission to collect empirical data about SCs, and then a decision would be taken on SC categorisation.“Everybody is interpreting the Supreme Court’s judgment as per their wish, but that is not correct,” he said, adding that the judgment should be interpreted legally with empirical data. He said that making a decision based on the data collected by the judicial commission appointed by the state government would be the right way to interpret the Supreme Court’s judgment.Vivek said the time has come for the Malas to come out and fight for their rights. He said they are conducting district-level meetings to send a strong message to all political parties and the state government that the Malas are united and can protect their rights themselves.He said that generally, Malas do not come forward unlike others, and that is their culture, but it is high time they did so as they are being insulted by some. He said Malas have every right to organise meetings to unite and fight for their rights like other communities.On the other hand, the Mala Employees Association leaders appealed to members of the community to submit their memoranda in large numbers, reflecting the facts and figures, to Shameem Akhter, former judge of the High Court of Telangana, who was appointed to head a one-man commission to study the sub-classification within the Scheduled Castes and make recommendations to the state government.The Mala employees said only 10 per cent of the total applications were filed by Malas before the Usha Mehra Commission, which was earlier constituted to study the issue.
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