Reservation for Muslims; When did Congress make promises and how many times was it opposed?
This is not the first time that the Congress party is in the news for giving reservation to Muslims and the controversies arising over it. In the last 30 years, Congress has gone on the backfoot at least four times regarding Muslim reservation.
The decision to give 4 percent reservation to Muslims from OBC category in Karnataka is in controversy. Prime Minister Modi has targeted the state's Siddaramaiah government and Congress on this issue.
Raising this issue in Morena, Madhya Pradesh, Prime Minister Modi said, 'Congress wants to snatch the rights of OBC for Muslims, hence the Congress government of Karnataka has made all Muslims OBC.'
While addressing the public, the PM further said – Teach them such a lesson that they become afraid of tampering with the reservation.
Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah has hit back at Prime Minister Modi's claim. According to Siddaramaiah, the PM is lying about Muslim reservation and he has no knowledge on it.
However, this is not the first case when the Congress party is in the news for giving reservation to Muslims and the controversies arising over it. In the last 30 years, the party has gone on the backfoot at least four times regarding Muslim reservation.
What is the reservation controversy in Karnataka?
According to the National Commission for Backward Classes, the Karnataka government has included all the Muslims of the state in OBC category 2B. At present there is 32 percent reservation for OBC category in Karnataka. A total of 883 castes and sub-castes get OBC reservation.
The government has included all Muslims in one point of this category, for which a provision of 4 percent reservation has been made. Muslims will get the benefit of this reservation in Karnataka government jobs and educational institutions.
However, the provision of 4 percent reservation to Muslims in Karnataka was first made in 1995 during the Deve Gowda government, which was abolished by the BS Bommai government before the 2023 elections.
When did Congress come into controversies regarding Muslim reservation?
1. First promise in Andhra Pradesh - For the first time in 1994, the Congress Party had promised to give separate reservation to Muslims. At that time, Vijay Bhaskar Reddy's government in Andhra Pradesh had announced to give 5 percent reservation to Muslims.
Reddy had said in his order – If we come to the government again, then 14 castes of Muslims will be given 5 percent reservation from all OBC quotas. There was strong opposition to this decision of Reddy in Andhra. As a result, Congress lost the assembly elections.
Congress could not win even in 1999 and this matter was put on hold. This reservation for Muslims was opposed the most by the Telugu Desam Party.
In 2004, Congress separately talked about giving 5 percent reservation to Muslims and after coming to power, it was also implemented. However, it was banned in 2010. Presently this matter is with the Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court.
BJP opposed it and the then leader of opposition Lal Krishna Advani called it a decision to divide the country. Advani had said at that time that if reservation is given to Muslims in the country, then in the future India will be divided into two pieces.
2. Promised to give reservation in 2009 also - Congress Party had talked about giving reservation in its manifesto in 2009 on the basis of the report of Ranganath Mishra and Amitabh Kundu Committee. This had become a big issue in the 2009 elections also and BJP had targeted Congress.
Ranganath Mishra Commission had recommended giving 10 percent reservation to Muslims across the country. The commission had also said that changes should be made in the Dalit category to increase the participation of Muslims.
According to the recommendation of the Commission, Dalits who become Muslims or Christians should also get reservation as is the case.
In 2008, a 4-member committee led by Amitabh Kundu had laid emphasis on a Diversity Commission for the development of Muslims in the country.
The committee had said that Muslims are lagging behind in everything from education to parliamentary participation, to change which radical changes are needed everywhere. Big changes are possible only when Muslims come into decision making.
3. Announcement of reservation before UP elections - In 2012, before the assembly elections in 5 states including UP, Congress announced reservation for Muslims in educational institutions. According to the announcement, out of the 27% reservation allotted for OBCs in central educational institutions, 4.5 percent reservation will be given to the Muslim community.
The government included 20 castes of Muslim communities in it. There was an uproar in the entire country on this announcement of Congress. Due to the announcement of elections, the Commission also came into action.
The Commission gave its decision to ban this announcement of the Centre. After this, Congress made it an issue in the entire election. In 2012, Congress did not succeed in UP, after which the matter went into abeyance.
In the 2014 elections, Congress promised in its manifesto that it would go to court to give reservation to minorities and raise its issue closely. However, the party did not get success in this election.
4. Reservation given to Muslims in Maharashtra too - In 2014, Prithviraj Chavan government of Maharashtra had also announced to give 5 percent reservation to Muslims. The government had made this announcement while giving 16 percent reservation to Marathas.
At that time Congress was opposed by Shiv Sena and BJP. However, the government argued that to bring all communities forward, it is necessary to give them reservation according to their population.
The Maharashtra government said that if 16 percent reservation can be given to 32 percent Marathas, then why not 5 percent reservation to 11 percent Muslims?
This announcement of the Congress government could not be implemented on the ground. The reason for this was the departure of the government in 2014. In 2015, the BJP government had canceled this reservation decision.