“Karnataka govt’s intention is to provoke communal strife”: HD Kumaraswamy on scrapping of reservation for Muslims

Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], March 28 (ANI): Former Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy on Tuesday said that the BJP-ruled state of Karnataka’s “intention” behind scrapping 4 per cent OBC reservation for Muslims was to spark communal strife between Vokkaligas and Lingayats and the Muslim community.

“All these things are childish issues. Without properly applying the mind, this government wanted to get votes from a certain community. But nothing will happen,” the JD-S leader said. Kumaraswamy termed the government’s decision as “unprepared and illegal the way they announced it”

“After the election, this is going to be changed. Everybody is going to scrap it. I request the people of Karnataka not take this issue seriously.

In a cabinet meeting held on Friday, the Karnataka government scrapped the four per cent OBC reservation for Muslims and distributed it to two dominant communities, Veerashaiva-Lingayats and Vokkaligas. It also decided to move OBC Muslims to the 10 per cent Economically Weaker Section (EWS) category.

“Their clear intention is to spark communal clashes between VokKaligas and Lingayats and the Muslim community. That is the reason they announced it,” he added.

While addressing a public meeting on Friday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said, “Reservations provided to the minority was not as per Constitution. There is no provision in the Constitution to provide reservation on the basis of religion.”

“Congress Government due to its polarisation politics provided reservation to the minority. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) scrapped that reservation and provided reservations to Vokkaliga and Lingayat communities,” he added.

Congress on Sunday said that if voted to power in the upcoming Assembly election, it will restore reservation for the Muslim community under the OBC list that has been scrapped by the BJP-led government in Karnataka.

Addressing mediapersons here Congress State President D K Shivakumar said, “I am confident that Congress will come to power after the next 45 days. We will scrap all these reservations as there is no base in this there was no report while making this decision.”