Saturday, May 4

‘Substantiate Allegations Or Apologise’: Siddaramaiah To PM Modi On Wealth Distribution, Reservation Remarks

Edited by Fazal Rahman Chembulangad
"Substantiate Allegations Or Apologise: Siddaramaiah To PM Modi On Wealth Distribution Remark (Photo on X Siddaramaiah @siddaramaiah)

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday came down heavily on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent remark on wealth distribution. In a post on X, the Congress veteran debunked the Prime Minister’s claim that Congress transferred the reservation quota from backward classes and Dalits to Muslims.

Calling the remark a “blatant lie,” Siddaramaiah said that the remark stems from “ignorance but also indicative of his “desperation born from a fear of defeat.”

On tuesday during an election rally in Rajasthan’s Tonk, Prime Minister Modi had claimed that the Congress has tried to extend reservation to Muslims out of the Dalit quota. He went on to accuse the Congress again of hatching a “conspiracy” to snatch people’s wealth and distribute it among a “select” group.

Reminding the status of the office, the Prime Minister is holding, the Karnataka Chief Minister then said that no leader in the history of our country has ever demeaned the office of the Prime Minister to such a low level. “Being in a position of responsibility, Prime Minister Narendra Modi must either substantiate these irresponsible allegations with evidence or apologise to the nation,” he demanded. 

He then asked the Prime Minister a few questions and sought his response to them. The questions are: Where has Congress stated that it would take away reservations from backward classes and SC/STs to give them to Muslims? Which state government under Congress has implemented such a policy? Is there any official government document related to this?

Demanding an answer, Siddaramaiah wrote that the Prime Minister “must present all these details before the nation.”

He further slammed the Prime Minister for lacking “basic knowledge” calling it “tragic for our country.” “Constitutional reservations cannot be arbitrarily amended. Revisions to reservations can only be made based on reports from social and economic surveys. Moreover, state governments do not have the authority to modify reservations for Scheduled Castes and Tribes. Such amendments require the approval of both Houses of Parliament,” described Siddaramaiah. 

The Chief Minister pointed out that the reservation has been in place for the past three decades including under the BJP government, noting that no one including the BJP has challenged it. 

Reminding the attempt of the previous BJP government in Karnataka to amend the reservation, he said that Prime Minister Modi has overlooked how the Basavaraj Bommai government, with the sole intention of dividing votes based on religion before the last Assembly elections, attempted to arbitrarily amend the reservation and got reprimanded by the Supreme Court. “The Apex Court has issued a stay on the decision to cancel the 4% reservation for Muslims. The Supreme Court ordered that the revised reservation should not be implemented until further notice. It is regrettable that even such important information has escaped the attention of the Prime Minister.”

The Chief Minister in his post further noted the announcement made by the previous Karnataka BJP government regarding the increase in the reservations for Scheduled Castes from fifteen to seventeen percent and for Scheduled Tribes from three to five percent.

“They also claimed to have written to the Union Government about this. However, on March 14, 2023, the Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment, Narayana Swamy, informed the Lok Sabha that neither had such a letter been received from the state’s BJP government nor was there any proposal to increase reservations under consideration,” he wrote asking the Prime if he has taken note of this decision. 

Further, the Chief Minister asked H D Devegowdal, the BJP’s new ally, who once boasted of implementing the reservation for Muslims, to clarify his current stance.

The Congress leader ended his post by saying that the Prime Minister’s lack of significant achievements proves that he is a failed leader despite having governed for the last ten years.