As has been widely reported in the media on March 25, in Karnataka, a state that goes to the polls in May, the present Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government removed the 4% reservation that the Muslims –due to academic and sociological research into caste had so far accessed – and added the same equally between the state’s powerful caste groups, Lingayats and Vokkaligas. This takes the proportion of Lingayats and Vokkaligas’ quota to 5% and 7%, respectively. The Muslims have been moved to the EWS (economically weaker sections) category which has a total of 10%; they have to share the same with a few groups like the Jains and Brahmins.
While Muslims were removed from the 2B Backward Class category (which they had been made a part of in 1994) through the March 27 order, Christians and Jains are classified under the 2D category, the Indian Express has today reported.
In a manipulation of the process that has, over the years, accorded a section of Pasmanda Muslims reservations in the OBC category, on March 26, Union home minister Amit Shah congratulated state chief minister Basavaraj Bommai on the “bold decision”. Shah said that giving quotas based on religion was against the constitution.
On March 24, Bommai had said, “There is no provision under the Constitution for reservation to religious minorities … It was struck down by the court in Andhra Pradesh. Even Dr B R Ambedkar had said that reservation was for castes.”
Opposition parties have criticised the new reservation policy, arguing that many different studies have classified Muslims as socially and economically backward. Muslim groups too have held protests in some parts of the state.
Two reports of importance in this regard are the Sachar Committee report and the Justice Ranganath Mishra Commission report. The latter specifically recommended that caste based classification and affirmative action be accorded to all categories including minority faiths that have caste factors identifying their population.
Related: