"Blatant Lie": Karnataka Did Not Change Backward Class Quota, Says Siddaramaiah

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday said that the Congress government led by him in the state has not made any changes to the backward class reservations while terming the claim arising in the matter a "blatant lie".

In a statement, Mr Siddaramaiah said that Muslims have been part of the backward class reservation since the L.G. Havanur Commission Report in 1974.

"The current Karnataka government has not made any changes to the backward class reservations. The previous government had taken away the 4 per cent BC (backward class) reservation under category 2B to Muslims and the matter has been pending in the Supreme Court with the previous BJP government headed by Bsavaraj Bommai giving an undertaking that it will not implement the changes during the pendency of the case in the Supreme Court," he stated.

"As the matter stands thus, the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) in a politically motivated move, has issued a press note on an issue that does not concern it. The law is clear that the state governments have the power to determine their own list of castes and communities to be categorised as Backward Classes. The NCBC has no role in it," CM Siddaramaiah said.

He further said "the NCBC press note is motivated to create confusion in the state when it is going for election".

"It gives the impression that the Congress government of Karnataka has given a new reservation to Muslims. This is a blatant lie. The fact remains that the backward class reservation of Muslims has been in existence since 1977 (04.03.1977) and it has withstood legal scrutiny," he said.

Successive Backward Class Commissions, namely, Havanur, Venkataswamy, Chinnappa Reddy, Prof Ravi Verma Kumar Commissions have recognised Muslims subject to income ceiling as Backward Class. This has been the position of law, the statement read.

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