These days, election winds are blowing in the country. Meanwhile, the Karnataka government’s move to include the entire Muslim community in the state as a backward class to provide reservation benefits is widely criticized and debated. CM Siddaramaiah defended his move after the Prime Minister and BJP leaders raised questions about it. In his remarks on the issue, he said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s claim that the Congress had ‘transferred’ the reservation quota from backward classes to Muslims is a ‘blatant lie’.
Further defending the 4% reservation for Muslims under Backward Class category in Karnataka, he said in a post on this issue a white lie. Later in his speech, he said that Prime Minister Modi must take responsibility for his claims and present evidence in this regard. And if they are unable to do so then they should apologize to the state.
Asking the Prime Minister, Siddaramaiah said where did the Congress say that it will grab reservation from backward classes and SC/ST and give it to Muslims? Which country with Congress government implemented such a policy? Are there any official government documents related to this? PM Modi should present all this information to the country.
According to him, a constitutional reservation cannot be amended arbitrarily. The amendment of the order can only be made on the basis of reports of social and economic surveys. Further, the state governments have no power to change reservations for SC/ST. Such amendments require the approval of both houses of parliament. Further taking a dig at the Prime Minister, he said that the Prime Minister lacks even this basic knowledge, it is really sad for our country.
Siddaramaiah said that it is true that Muslims in Karnataka have been included in ‘Category 2B’ for backward classes, but this has not been done yet. It is based on the reports of the Back Classes Committee chaired by LG Havanur in 1974. CM Siddaramaiah said that this reservation was in force for the last three decades. According to him, neither the BJP government, which was already in power in the country, nor the central government led by Narendra Modi, which has been in power for the past ten years, raised questions regarding this reservation. PM Modi seems to have ignored how the Basavaraj Bommai government (the previous BJP) tried to arbitrarily change the reservations with the intention of dividing votes on the basis of religion before the last assembly elections.
He also said that the Supreme Court delayed the decision to cancel the 4 percent reservation for Muslims. The Supreme Court ordered not to implement the amended reservation until further notice, but Prime Minister Modi is completely unaware of this.
Prime Minister Modi made these allegations in the Rajasthan Assembly
Let us tell you that while addressing an election rally in Tonk, Rajasthan last Tuesday, Prime Minister Modi attacked the Congress. He said that Congress tried to give reservation to Muslims from Dalit quota. The opposition party conspires to steal people’s property and divide it among the people. PM Modi said that when the Congress formed the government at the Center in 2004, the first thing it did was to reduce the SC/ST reservation in Andhra Pradesh and give it to Muslims. He alleged that between 2004 and 2010, the Congress tried to implement Muslim reservation in Andhra Pradesh four times, but failed to achieve its intention due to legal hurdles and Supreme Court notices. PM Modi also said that in 2011 the Congress wanted to implement it across the country.
