BJP trying to instigate clashes between communities, says HDK

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: JD(S) legislature party leader HD Kumaraswamy on Tuesday said that the BJP had scrapped the four per cent reservation for Muslims under the 2B category to create a communal rift between the minority community on the one hand and Vokkaligas and Lingayats on the other.

“Their clear intention is to instigate communal clashes between Vokkaligas and Lingayats and Muslims. That is the reason they announced it,” Kumaraswamy said. He hinted that BJP was trying to capture the Vokkaliga vote with the move.

“These things are childish. Without properly applying its mind, this government wanted to get votes from a certain community but nothing will happen,” he said, adding that the decision was “unprepared and illegal the way they announced it”.

The former chief minister said that the decision would be reversed once the BJP was removed from power. “After the polls, this is going to be changed. Everybody is going to abolish it. I would like to request the people of Karnataka not to take this issue seriously,” Kumaraswamy said.

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