MYSURU: With a growing demand for reservation by the Kurubas in Karnataka, Vanniyars in Tamil Nadu and Schedule Tribe tag by many communities, the Congress suspects that the RSS and Sangh Parivar are behind these agitations with the larger objective of distracting the communities that have rallied behind the grand old party for all these years. The BJP and RSS wanted to split the traditional vote bank of the Congress and win back many communities into its fold, in an effort to make inroads into Southern states.
Former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, known as the champion of Ahinda (acronym for Minorities, Backward Classes and Dalits), has kept away from the Kuruba stir for the ST tag as he sees an RSS conspiracy to split the Kuruba community and target his leadership.Clarifying that he will not take part in the movement scripted by the RSS and led by RDPR Minister K S Eshwarappa, Siddaramaiah questioned the need for conventions and a stir when the BJP government is in power in the State and Centre. The issue will end if the Karnataka cabinet passes a resolution and recommends to the Centre to accord ST status for Kurubas, he said.
Admitting that the study looking into tribal characteristics has not yet been submitted, he questioned Eshwarappa’s silence when Justice Rama Jois opposed reservation for backward classes, the Kanaka gopura was demolished in Udupi and MP Ananthkumar Hegde gave a call to burn the Constitution.
Siddaramaiah sees the stir led by Eshwarappa as an attempt to isolate him, tarnish his image and split the community for better dividends to the BJP. Clarifying that he was once invited over phone to join the stir, the Ahinda leader said he had told them he would not participate in the agitation as it is not an apolitical stir.
I am pluralist, not ISIS
Taking a dig at a BJP supporter who tweeted likening him to terrorist outfit ISIS and accusing him of pleasing the Muslim community, Siddaramaiah said he believes in the Constitution, a pluralistic and tolerant society, which the BJP is against.
Congress serious about bypolls
Mysuru: Refusing to be cowed by the defeat in Sira and RR Nagar bypolls, former CM Siddaramaiah said the Congress is all charged up to face the bypolls to the assembly and Parliament. He said the party has taken the bypolls seriously and got 2 per cent more votes when compared to the 2013 and 2018 poll result. But misuse of power, money and an understanding between the BJP and JDS ended in the Congress losing out. He said intellectuals and like-minded people had expressed apprehension over the saffronisation of politics, especially pushing legislation for ‘love jihad’ when it will not get past legal scrutiny. Criticising Agriculture Minister B C Patil for his comments on farmers, Siddaramaiah said his party supported the farmers’ stir in Delhi and urged the government to drop the anti-farmer legislation instead of forming a committee to look into their demands.