Why and how Muslims were given quotas under OBC reservation in Karnataka

May 03, 2024 09:00 am | Updated 10:08 am IST - Bengaluru Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressing a poll rally in Rajasthan’s Tonk-Sawai Madhopur Lok Sabha constituency on April 23, accused the Congress of “snatching the reservation of SCs, STs and OBCs and providing it to Muslims through the backdoor”, tying it up with his charge that “Congress would redistribute the wealth of people to Muslims”. On the same day Mr. Modi made this charge for the first time, Hansraj Gangaram Ahir, Chairman, National Commission for Backward Classes, a BJP leader and a former Minister of State in the Narendra Modi cabinet, issued a press note and said he would seek clarification from the Chief Secretary of Karnataka about the 4% reservation given to Muslims in the state. Calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s charge a “blatant lie” and NCBC’s press note a “politically motivated lie”, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said that his government had not introduced any new reservation for Muslims as it was being made out to be, but the fact remained that “Backward Classes reservation of Muslims has been in existence since 1977 and it has withstood legal scrutiny”. Apart from these 36 castes among Muslims, the rest of the community have been determined to be “More Backward” and assigned to Category II which has only Muslims and has 4% reservation in the state. Muslims in all three categories have been determined to be “backward” to varying degrees by surveys and studies of various backward classes commissions and included in the reservation list, and Category II for Muslims is not based on religious grounds, as alleged by Hansraj Gangaram Ahir and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, ruling Congress in the state and multiple past presidents of backwards classes commissions have argued.