BENGALURU: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said on Wednesday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s claim that the Congress has transferred the reservation quota meant for backward classes (BCs) and Dalits to Muslims is a blatant lie. It stems from ignorance but is also indicative of his desperation, born from a fear of defeat, he added.
Responding to Modi’s accusation, the CM stated in his X post: “It’s true that in Karnataka, Muslims have been included in the 2B category for backward classes. This is not something done now. It has been based on the reports of the Backward Classes Commissions, starting with the one headed by L G Havanur in 1974.”
This reservation has been in place for the past three decades. Neither the BJP government previously in power at the state, nor the Narendra Modi-led Union Government that has been in power for the past 10 years, has questioned this reservation. Moreover, no one, including the BJP, has challenged it in court, he claimed.
It appears that PM Modi has overlooked how the Basavaraj Bommai government, with the sole intention of dividing votes based on religion before the last assembly elections, attempted to arbitrarily amend the reservation and got reprimanded by the Supreme Court. The Apex Court has issued a stay on the decision to cancel the 4% reservation for Muslims. The Supreme Court ordered that the revised reservation should not be implemented until further notice. It is regrettable that even such important information has escaped the attention of the Prime Minister.
In Karnataka, the previous BJP government had announced an increase in reservations for Scheduled Castes from fifteen to seventeen percent and for Scheduled Tribes from three to five percent. They also claimed to have written to the Union government about this. However, on March 14, 2023, the Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment, Narayana Swamy, informed the Lok Sabha that neither had such a letter been received from the state’s BJP government, nor was there any proposal to increase reservations under consideration. Did Prime Minister Narendra Modi not take note of this decision? he asked.
“I am eager to know the opinion of Modi’s new ally, Shri H D Deve Gowda. Shri Deve Gowda, who once boasted of implementing the reservation for Muslims, should clarify his current stance,” Siddaramaiah said.
Despite having governed for the last 10 years, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s lack of significant achievements proves that he is a failed leader, he added.
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