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With the momentum gained from the BJP’s wins in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, the party’s Karnataka unit, which was beset with internal differences and remained relatively quiet for over six months after the loss to the Congress in May, has once again returned to the political discourse in the state. And it has done so with communal rhetoric.
In the ongoing Winter Session of the Karnataka Legislature in Belagavi, an area where the BJP is strong, the party collectively highlighted Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah’s statement at a minorities convention on December 4 about allocating Rs 10,000 crore for the welfare of Muslims in the state.
At the event, Siddaramaiah had said he would increase the allocation for the minority welfare department from the existing Rs 4,000 crore to Rs 10,000 crore in the coming years, but made no mention of a definitive timeframe.
The BJP, however, called it “minority appeasement” and staged protests in the Assembly and Council.
Led by the new Leader of the Opposition, R Ashoka, who was appointed six months after the elections, the party alleged that Siddaramaiah had broken the convention of not making policy announcements in public when the state Legislature was in session.
“One farmer died by suicide two days ago. The government cannot announce a package of Rs 2,000-3,000 crore for farmers. Rather Rs 10,000 crore is announced to minorities,” Ashoka said.
The BJP staged a walkout, even as the Congress argued that it was a non-issue since no allocation had been made.
“The forum of the Assembly should not become a factory of producing something far from the truth…. Did the CM say he would allocate Rs 10,000 crore this year?” state law minister H K Patil said.
The promise of increased allocation for the Minority Welfare Department is important for the Congress, given the base Siddaramaiah and the party enjoy among the nearly 9% Muslim voters in Karnataka.
The move is seen as part of a strategy to keep the minority votes hitched to the Congress in the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls, alongside the support of key OBC communities such as the Kurubas to which Siddaramaiah himself belongs.
“The allocation is a warning issued by Siddaramaiah to the Congress high command against any move to destabilise him as he enjoys mass support,” BJP MLA Basangouda Patil Yatnal said.
The BJP has also raised another issue. Yatnal alleged that Siddaramaiah had shared the dais with “ISIS supporters and terror sympathisers” at an event held in Hubbali on December 5, making a specific reference to Maulvi Tanveer Hashmi as being an ISIS supporter.
Siddaramaiah responded by presenting pictures of the presence of Hashmi at the Sufi World Conference attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2016.
“I have an association with Hashmi for several years. Why were these people quiet earlier? Yatnal indulges in hate and anti-minorities politics…Hashmi has said that he (Yatnal) must prove the allegations of his ISIS links. It is their (BJP) government that is in power at the Centre. Let them do it (prove the allegations),” he said.
Before the Session began, B Y Vijayendra, the BJP’s new president in Karnataka and the son of former CM B S Yediyurappa, accused Congress Housing Minister B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan of breaching House privilege. He referred to a statement Khan made on November 17 in Hyderabad during the Telangana poll campaign about the Congress in Karnataka making U T Khader, a Muslim, the Speaker of the Karnataka legislative Assembly.
“We have nine elected Muslim MLAs. Muslims were fielded in 17 seats and there were winners in nine seats. Five Muslims have been given important positions. I am a minister; Rahim Khan is a minister; Salim Ahmed is a chief whip; Nazeer Ahmed is a political secretary. Something that no party has done before in the history of the Karnataka Assembly has happened… A Muslim has been made the Speaker of the Assembly. Top BJP leaders have to bow before U T Khader,” Khan had said.
BJP leaders including Vijayendra said the BJP would not allow Khan to enter the Legislature for the Session over the remarks that “degraded the post of the Speaker”. The BJP has, however, not put into action its threat against the minister after Khan said he did not intend to hurt anyone through the comment.
Meanwhile, the Congress has not brought up its issue with RSS idealogue Veer Savarkar’s portrait in the House. The portrait was installed in the Belagavi House in 2021, during the BJP’s tenure.
The Congress had at the time opposed the move and threatened to remove the portrait, but has remained largely silent over the matter with Khader stating that there is no plan to remove the portrait.
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