BIDAR/BENGALURU: With Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP intensifying their attacks on the Congress over Muslim quota, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday said the 4% reservation for Muslims has been in force in Karnataka since 1994 as per the Chinnappa Reddy Commission’s recommendation.
In Bidar, the CM said some people approached the Supreme Court during the tenure of the previous BJP government, headed by Basavaraj Bommai, seeking rollback of the reservation given to the Muslim community. At that time the BJP government had submitted a letter to the Supreme Court that it would continue with the 4% reservation and it is still continuing, the CM said. “When this is the actual position, how can the PM blame the Karnataka government?” the CM asked.
Meanwhile, a detailed note issued by the Chief Minister’s Office stated that Muslims have been part of the backward class reservation since the LG Havanur Commisssion Report in 1974. “The current Karnataka government has not made any changes to the backward class reservations. The previous government had taken away the 4% backward classes reservation under category 2B to Muslims and the matter has been pending in the Supreme Court with the previous Bommai government giving an undertaking that it will not implement the changes during pendency of the case in the Supreme Court,” the note stated.
The CMO said the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) in a politically motivated move issued a press note on an issue that does not concern it. The law is clear that state governments have the power to determine their own list of castes and communities to be categorised as backward classes. The NCBC has no role in it, the note stated.
“The NCBC press note is motivated to create confusion in the state when it is going for election. It gives the impression that the Congress government in Karnataka has given a new reservation to Muslims. This is a blatant lie. The fact remains that the BC reservation of Muslims has been in existence since 1977 and it has withstood legal scrutiny,” the note from the CMO stated. Successive Backward Class Commissions have recognised Muslims subject to income ceiling as backward class, the CMO stated.
Meanwhile, former advocate general Prof Ravi Varma Kumar said the statement by National Commission for Backward Classes chairman Hansraj Gangaram Ahir that the Karnataka government was categorising Muslims under OBC reservation is contempt of court.
Concurring with him, former chairman of Backward Classes Commission C S Dwarakanath said, ‘’The remarks of the PM and the chairman of the National Commission for Backward Classes are not true.”