BJP’s quota game goes out of control

Panchamasalis burn CM Bommai’s effigy, demand 2A reservation

NT Correspondent

Haveri / Bengaluru: Panchamasali Lingayats staged a protest in Shiggaon town in Haveri district on Friday, demanding 15 percent reservation under the 2A category, even burning an effigy of Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai. Hundreds blocked the National Highway-48 and traffic on the outskirts of Shiggaon, Bommai’s constituency.

The protesters were led by Panchamasali leaders like the seer of Kudalasangama mutt Jaya Mruthyunjaya and Vijayapura BJP MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal. The Panchamasalis, a Lingayat sub-sect, had set a deadline of January 12 for the State government to issue a notification to include the community in the 2A category, which would yield them a 15 per cent reservation.

Panchamasaliseer Jaya Mruthyunjaya said, "The CM had promised us reservation under 2A category five times but failed to deliver. I am ready to fight for the community, even alone, but thousands of people are backing me. The community members would start an indefinite protest in Freedom Park in Bengaluru on Saturday, he added.

On December 29, the Bommai administration had instead created two new categories namely 2C and 2D to expand the quotas of Vokkaligas and Panchamasalis, carving out space for them under the 10 percent Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) quota.

Vokkaligas currently get a four percent reservation under the 2C category but they are demanding it be hiked to 12 percent. Lingayats on the other hand get five per cent quota under the 2D category. Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in the state get under five categories.

They are Category 1 (four per cent), Category 2A (15 per cent), Category 2B (4 per cent), Category 3A (4 per cent) and Category 3B (5 per cent). Bommai had assured them that the two communities would get the same benefits as in the newly-created categories.

However, Panchamasalis rejected the proposal, pointing out that the supposed solution didn’t meet their 15 percent demand. On Thursday, the Karnataka High Court stayed the State government’s decision to carve out the two new categories and ordered that the status quo be maintained.