Hiding failures with divisive politics

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: Opposition parties, civil society members, advocates, former officers and others slammed certain BJP MLAs for demanding that reservation for Muslims and Christians be scrapped in Karnataka.

Opposition parties Congress and JD(S) see the demands by BJP MLA from Vijayapura Basangouda Patil Yatnal and Dharwad West MLA Aravind Bellad as a ploy to gain electoral traction in the upcoming Assembly polls.

Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) general secretary Milind Dharmasena said that Yatnal and Bellad had convinced themselves that by railing against Muslims and Christians they would appease the BJP high command and give themselves a shot at becoming chief minister the way Yogi Adityanath did in UP. However, he said that they wouldn't be able to manage it.

“They cannot scrap quotas easily. They are just making it a poll issue. If at all they do, Congress will fight against it because we believe in ‘sab ka saath, sab ka vikas’ (solidarity with and progress for everyone). Live and let live is what Congress believes in. India is a secular country, which BJP people have not learned or read,” he said.

JD(S) Hubballi-Dharwad president Gururaj Hunasimarad, who has been opposing the attempts to abolish minority quotas, saw it as a larger Sangh Parivar agenda. “More than a political move, it is an RSS agenda. They are only doing it through these people (Yatnal and Bellad).

They are trying to set Lingayats and minorities against each other,” he said. He was referring to the demand by Panchamshali Lingayats to increase their reservation share.Congress MLA from Shivajinagar Rizwan Arshad said the timing of the demand was suspicious.

“Why are they raising the demand now? It’s because they are in a bad situation. They have no issue to take to the people. Their government is not performing and is corrupt. No caste or community is happy with them. The only thing they can do is divert people’s attention.

“This is a diversionary tactic. They can’t touch any community’s reservation. It’ll not stand in court. Whatever reservation backward sections among minorities are getting is constitutionally guaranteed. Their socio-economic background has been examined and vetted by the courts,” he said.