To placate Vokkaligas & Lingayats, BJP diverts 4% Muslim quota to them

The BJP government in Karnataka, decided to do away with the 4 per cent reservation quota for Muslims under the Other Backward Classes (OC) Quota.

The Basavaraj Bommai led Cabinet decided to distribute it equally among the dominant Vokkaliga and Lingayat communities.

The move is an important one ahead of the Karnataka elections as the Lingayats and Vokkaligas constitute 17 and 14 per cent of the state's population respectively.

One of the key points made by Bommai following the decision was that there is no provision for reservation for religious minorities in the Constitution.

With this decision, the Muslims who come under Category 2B will be moved to the 10 per cent EWS quota pool.

With this four per cent being freed up, the Vokkaligas and Lingayat will get two per cent each and this in turn would increase their reservation in the OBC pool to 6 per cent and 7 per cent under categories 2(C)and 2(D) respectively from the existing 4 and 5 per cent respectively. The two communities were earlier under Categories 3A and 3B, which now stand scrapped.

With this decision, the BJP aims at placating both the powerful communities in Karnataka. In almost all elections, it has been seen that the votes of these two communities decide the election results. The Vokkaligas traditionally vote for the Congress and Janata Dal (S), where the Lingayats on the other hand side with the BJP.

The BJP despite emerging as the single largest party on three occasions (2004, 2008, 2018) has never been in majority. This is a lot to do with the fact that the party falls short when it comes to votes of the Vokkaliga community. In the run up to launching the election campaign for Karnataka, Union Home Minister, Amit Shah had said that if the BJP wants to win big, it should perform well in the Old Mysuru Region. In this region, the Vokkaligas hold the major sway and the BJP has always fallen short. It is the JD(S) which traditionally does well in the region, followed by the Congress.

The decision by the Bommai government is aimed at giving leverage to both the Vokkaligas and Lingayats. Moreover the BJP was also under immense pressure from the Panchamshali Lingayats for reservation. This sect is a numerically stronger sub-sect among the Lingayats.

Bommai on the other hand, did not get into the dynamics and cited purely legal clauses on why this decision was taken.

"There is no provision under the Constitution for reservation to religious minorities. In Andhra Pradesh the court struck down reservation to religious minorities. Even Dr. B R Ambedkar said clearly that reservation is for castes. Sooner or later someone might challenge reservation to religious minorities. Hence the government has taken a proactive decision. In the literal sense, there are economic criteria to avail OBC reservation, even for minorities. We are moving the Muslims from a 4 per cent pool to 10 per cent EWS quota where the same economic criteria will continue," Bommai explained.

He also explained that the government will soon notify the implementation of the EWS quota.

"The poor from all communities which are not SC, ST or OBC will qualify for the EWS quota," Bommai said.

Who benefits from the EWS quota:

Under the 10 per cent EWS quota, Brahims, Arya Vysyas, Jains, Nagarthas and Mudaliars are expected to benefit along with the Muslims.

Bommai said that if one looks at it optimistically, the Muslims now qualify under a larger pool of 10 per cent reservation.

"Some Muslims also come under Category 1 and Category 2A, which will remain undisturbed," Bommai explained.

The Bommai government has however ensured that the total OBC reservation remains at 32 per cent across the four categories-Category 1 ( 4 per cent), Category 2A ( 15 per cent), Category 2C (6 per cent), Category 2D (7 per cent).