The Congress on Tuesday promised to ban organisations such as Bajrang Dal and Popular Front on India (PFI) promoting enmity among communities, welfare measures like 200 units of free power to all households and to increase reservation to 75% as it released its manifesto for the May 10 Karnataka polls.
It cited “hopes and aspirations” of Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST), Other Backward Class (OBC), minority, Lingayat, and Vokkliga communities while pledging to increase the reservation from 50% to 75%.
“The Congress is committed to increasing reservation for SCs from 15% to 17%, for STs 3% to 7%, restore minority reservation of 4%, and increase reservation for Lingayats, Vokkaligas, and other communities while pursuing [quota] inclusion in the 9th Schedule of the Constitution [to protect it from judicial review],” it said
The Union government last year told the Supreme Court that the 50% cap on the reservation is “not sacrosanct” while defending the central law on 10% quota benefits to the economically weaker sections. The position was expected to change the paradigm governing reservations in India.
States have been prevented from enforcing quotas that take the proportion above the 50% mark the Supreme Court laid down in 1992.
{{/usCountry}}States have been prevented from enforcing quotas that take the proportion above the 50% mark the Supreme Court laid down in 1992.
{{/usCountry}}Tamil Nadu passed a law in 1994 for exceeding the 50% reservation mark and placed it under the 9th schedule of the Constitution. The state has had 69% reservation since 1989 and 68% since 1980.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) released its manifesto on Monday with the promise to implement a uniform civil code, a special police unit to probe religious fundamentalism, and a national register of citizens garnering the most attention.
The Congress, which is seen to be a frontrunner in Karnataka polls, said it is committed to taking firm and decisive action against individuals and organisations spreading hatred among communities on grounds of caste or religion. “We believe that law and Constitution are sacrosanct and cannot be violated by individuals and organisations like Bajrang Dal, PFI or others promoting enmity or hatred, whether among majority or minority communities,” Coongress’s manifesto said.
The Union government banned PFI and its affiliates last year for five years, citing its anti-national activities.
Bajrang Dal is the youth wing of the Vishva Hindu Parishad, an affiliate of BJP’s ideological fount Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.
The Congress manifesto is titled “Sarva Janangada Shanthiya Thota (peaceful garden of all communities)”. It was released in the presence of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, former Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah, and state chief DK Shivakumar.
Apart from 200 units of free power to all households, the Congress has promised ₹2,000 monthly assistance to the women heads of families, 10 kg of free rice to every member of a Below Poverty Line household, 3,000 monthly for graduates, and ₹1,500 for diploma holders in the age group of 18-25 for two years and free bus public buses travel for women.
It has pledged to fill up all sanctioned vacant government posts and to extend Old Pension Scheme (OPS) to the employees who joined the service after 2006.
Congress-ruled states of Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh have reverted to OPS decades after it was discontinued during the previous BJP-led government of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 2004.
The promise to reintroduce OPS is believed to have helped Congress win its first assembly election since 2019 in Himachal Pradesh last year.
Kharge said the promises will be implemented at the first Cabinet meeting on day one of the government formation in Karnataka.
Siddaramaiah said the BJP claims it is for the SC and ST communities. “Then why did not the Central government do anything for them? They opposed Mandal Commission [recommendations for OBC quota], reservation in higher learning...they spoilt everything by removing 4% reservation for Muslims and divided it among Vokkaligas and Lingayats,” Siddaramaiah said.
The Karnataka government scrapped the 4% OBC quota for Muslims ahead of the polls before the Supreme Court last month said the move was “prima facie shaky and flawed”.
Siddaramaiah said they will increase the reservation. “[In the] Indira Sawhney case [the Supreme Court] said reservation should exceed 50%. But it can be increased under special circumstances...We will increase it from 50-70% and accommodate everyone based on their population.”