Congress breaking social fabric for vote bank: BJP on Karnataka housing quota for minorities

The BJP on Friday accused the Congress government in Karnataka of violating the Constitution by allocating religion-based reservation in its housing scheme, charging the party with breaking social fabric for vote bank politics to ''appease'' Muslims.

The Karnataka Cabinet on Thursday decided to increase the reservation for minorities under various housing schemes from 10 to 15 per cent, a move the BJP alleged is aimed at benefiting Muslims.

Slamming the decision, BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra said, ''Since this is a welfare scheme, why has religion-based reservation been added to it? The Congress speaks of the Constitution but is breaking social fabric for vote bank politics. This politics, built on appeasement, will ultimately collapse.'' He claimed that the Congress is inviting a long-term disaster for short-term political gains. ''Shortcuts don't last long. Those at 99 today may drop to nine next time,'' Patra said in a reference to the Congress' tally in the Lok Sabha.

The Karnataka government's decision to keep the caste survey under wraps after spending Rs 165 crore and order a new enumeration was also driven by its appeasement politics, he alleged. The survey did injustice to the Lingayat and Vokkaliga communities, he claimed.

''In the 2015 census, the Muslim population in Karnataka was around 12.6 per cent but leaked reports on the recent census said it has risen to approximately 18.08 per cent. How can there be such a huge jump in the numbers,'' Patra asked.

The Supreme Court, the BJP leader said, has already made it clear that reservation based on religion is unconstitutional. Yet, Congress leaders, who carry copies of the Constitution in their pockets, are seen blatantly violating it themselves, he alleged.

He also claimed that Rahul Gandhi once said that the Congress is a party of Muslims. The Congress has never been ashamed of this, as its focus has never been on welfare schemes or good governance but on vote-bank politics, Patra alleged.

In Karnataka, be it the housing scheme, reservation in tenders, or including Muslims in the '2B' category for reservation, the rights of SC, ST, and OBC communities are being taken away, Patra alleged.

The Karnataka government has said this enhanced quota will benefit all the minorities, including Muslims, Christians, and Jains.

The move follows a recent government initiative to introduce 4 per cent reservation for Muslims in public contracts, which came under criticism from the BJP as well.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)