The Supreme Court directed that the Karnataka government’s decision to scrap the four percent quota for Muslims will not be implemented until May 9.
Leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have shown concern over the Supreme Court (SC) ruling to not implement the Karnataka Government’s decision to scrap the four percent quota for Muslims until May 9 and said that they will again appeal to the apex court.
C N Ashwath Narayan, Minister of Skill Development, Entrepreneurship and Livelihood of Karnataka said, “We are in full confidence that we will win the case in the Supreme Court because considering all castes and sub-classes, BJP is the only party which has provided an inclusive reservation to its people.”Shobha Karanjdale, Union Minister and convener of the BJP’s State Election Management Committee while addressing a press conference in Bengaluru said that SC’s order is against the constitution because as per the constitution, reservation should not be given on the grounds of religion.
“We will again go to the SC and let them understand that reservation should not be granted on the basis of religion,” she said.
A report said that the Karnataka government won an adjournment in the SC during the hearing of a petition challenging the State’s decision to scrap the Muslim OBC quota and distribute it between the Vokkaligas and Lingayats.
The government had decided to scrap the four percent of the Muslim quota in April and redistribute it between Vokkaligas (two percent) and Lingayats (two percent). If this is implemented, the Muslims will be under the 10 percent Economically Weaker Section (EWS) category for reservation.
Haribai Desai, a political analyst said that the move by BJP was just meant to attract the Vokkaliga and Lingayat votes and that BJP proved to be anti-Muslim. The four percent reservation was given for the Muslims under the Other Backward Class (OBC) category. So, this was just to please a certain community to benefit in the upcoming elections. He added, “BJP’s main strategy is to divide the communities on religious lines and that is not in the interest of the nation, but I think neither the Vokkaligas nor Lingayats are happy with this action”
Narayan said, “It is just a temporary stay on the case and the citizens of Karnataka have clearly understood their intentions and hence this will not affect them in elections. Considering all castes and sub-classes, BJP is the only party which has provided an inclusive reservation to its people.”
BJP is campaigning in the state in full flow as Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 27th April will interact with over fifty lakh Karyakarthas (Party workers) in the state through the Namo Application, the official mobile app of Narendra Modi.
Javidulla, President, Karnataka Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), said, “Whatever decisions the state government has taken is undemocratic and unconstitutional. This reservation is granted from 1919.”
He also said, here, the current government is doing this for politically polarising the communities and incite tension between different communities to grab votes and create a vote bank.”
Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Union Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology said that this is an important part of their campaign. “We as a party are campaigning for a decisive majority and Modi’s vision of a new India includes Nava Karnataka as well.
