Karnataka govt intents to incite communal strife: Kumaraswamy

Former Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy said on Tuesday that removing the four  percent OBC reservation for Muslims will spark communal strife between Vokkaligas and Lingayats and the Muslim community.

The aim of the state government is to get votes without properly applying common sense. The JD-S leader Kumaraswamy said that the government’s decision was “unprepared and illegal the way they announced it.”

Kumaraswamy went on to say that I request the people of Karnataka not to take the matter seriously. The Karnataka government took the decision on Friday to remove the four percent OBC reservation for Muslims and distribute it between two other communities, such as the Veerashaiva-Lingayats and Vokkaligas.

The state government decided to put the OBC Muslims in the 10 percent Economically Weaker Section (EWS) category.

The new government policy regarding reservation will increase communal tension between VokKaligas and Lingayats and the Muslim community, Kumaraswamy said.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday categorically said that reservation for the minority has not been mentioned in the Constitution. Besides this there is no provision to provide reservation on the basis of religion in the Constitution.

Congress on Sunday cleared its verdict that, if voted to power in the upcoming state assembly election in Karnataka, it will once again restore 4 percent of the reservation for OBC Muslims.