Karnataka Muslims urge Siddaramaiah for religion-based budgeting
A delegation of Muslim community leaders met with Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and requested him to increase funding for minorities in the state.
The delegation comprised Ministers Rahim Khan, Zameer Ahmed Khan and Chief Minister’s Political Secretary Naseer Ahmed.
The meeting comes in the wake of the Opposition in Karnataka alleging that the Congress is indulging in minority appeasement. It would be interesting to note here that in the 2024 budget was presented in February, Siddaramaiah had announced an allocation of Rs 100 crore for the Development of Waqf properties and Rs 200 crore fro the development of the Christian community.
Reacting sharply to the budget, BJP MP Tejaswi Surya had said, ‘to take money from the Hindu temples and use it to fund the religious institutions of non-Hindu faiths is the standard SOP of ‘secular’ leaders like Siddaramaiah.”
“Secularism as practiced by them is not just a stick to brow beat the Hindu, it is also a tool to financially enrich others at the cost of the Hindu,” he had also said.
If Siddaramaiah were to heed to the demands made by the Muslim community, then one could expect a wide range of protests by the Opposition BJP in the state. Siddaramaiah is already under fire for his minority appeasement policies by a large section of the people of Karnataka.
Siddaramaiah and Muslim appeasement
Siddaramaiah has for long been accused of appeasing the minority community in Karnataka. He was mired in controversy when he promised higher budget allocation to minorities. While addressing a convention of Muslims religious leaders on December 7, 2023, he had said that he would increase the allocation to minorities welfare department from the existing Rs 4,000 crore to Rs 10,000 crore.
He said that he intends to increase the allocation to the minorities department every year and will spend nothing less than Rs 10,000 crore. I will ensure that the minorities get a share in the wealth of the country, he had said.
He also found himself at the centre of controversy when Waqf Board notices were sent to farmers in the state.
There were also reports that his government was considering 4 per cent reservation of government civil works contracts up to Rs 1 crore for Muslim contractors, matching their share in the 11B quota. Siddaramaiah however said that while there has been a demand such as this, no formal proposal is pending before the state government.
He once again found himself in the midst of controversy after his Cabinet decided to withdraw cases against a group of Muslims in the state. Criminal cases were registered against a group of Muslims for mobbing a police station in Old Hubbali. They also indulged violence following which cases were registered against them. They were charged with rioting, attempted murder and damaging government property. The Cabinet however decided to withdraw these cases based on a request made by the Anjuman-e-Islam.
The decision to withdraw the cases came despite the matter being serious in nature and the perpetrators undertaking an attack against the state.
During his first term as chief minister in 2013, violent protests had erupted across the state when he decided to celebrate Tipu Jayanti. While the Congress terms Tipu as a freedom fighters, a large majority view him as a tyrant who killed Hindus and forced many into Islam.
On the Tipu issue, Siddaramaiah had however tone down owing to the backlash. In his second term, he did not sound sure if he wanted to hold the event and said that a decision would be taken only after due consultation.
Congress and appeasement
The fact that the Congress indulges in appeasement politics could be seen in an open statement that former prime minister Late Dr. Manmohan Singh had made. In a controversial statement, he had said that Muslims must have the first claim on resources in the country.
He said in the year 2006 that plans for minorities, particularly Muslims must have the first claim on resources so that benefits of development reach them equitably. We will have to device innovative plans to ensure that the minorities, particularly the Muslim community are empowered to shared equitability the fruits of development. These must have the first claim on resources, he said during his address at the 52nd meeting of the National Development Council.
One of the most blatant forms of appeasement by the Congress was seen during the Shah Bano case of 1985. The 70-year-old divorced woman was sanctioned maintenance money by the Supreme Court of India by which her husband was ordered to pay Rs 500 monthly.
To counter this, Rajiv Gandhi who had a mammoth majority in Parliament ensured the passage of the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act of 1986 which absolved the Muslim husband from any responsibility towards his divorced wife irrespective of her condition.
Under the Congress, the Satanic Verses written by Salman Rushdie was banned. Rushdie who was at the receiving end of fundamentalists asked Rajiv Gandhi, ‘what sort of India do you wish to govern? Is to be an open or repressive society.’
In Kerala the members of the Popular Front of India chopped off the hand of Professor K J Joseph as they were unhappy with the question paper he had set. Instead of protecting Joseph the government ensured that he lost his job.
The list of such instances under the Congress is endless. During the Battle House encounter between the Delhi police and the Indian Mujahideen, the authenticity of the same was questioned by the likes of Salman Khursheed and Digvijaya Singh. These leaders then went on to claim that Sonia Gandhi had broken down on hearing the news relating to the death of the two boys (terrorists of the Indian Mujahideen).
Further, it was the Congress led UPA that a false bogey of Hindu terror came into existence. Cases that were being investigated had concluded that outfits such as the Indian Mujahideen were behind the Samjautha Express, Ajmer and Malegaon blasts. However, under the UPA all these angles were changed which suggested that Hindus were behind these attacks.
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