BJP’s quota ordinance stirs a hornet’s nest

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: With the Assembly election round the corner, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has decided to promulgate an ordinance to increase reservation for Scheduled Castes and Tribes (SCs and STs) in an attempt to woo the marginalised communities.

But the government landed in a tight spot with other communities upping the ante on quota-related demands. The immediate challenge to the Bommai government is from the Panchamasali sect of the Lingayat community.

Seer of Lingayat Panchamasali Peetha, Basava Jaya Mrutyunjaya Swami has warned of laying siege to Vidhana Soudha in the second week of December if their demand is not met. The dominant Vokkaliga community is planning to launch agitation for a better quota.

According to influential Vokkaliga pontiff Nirmalananda Swamiji of Adi Chunchanagiri Mutt not all 115 sub-sects of Vokkaliga community have been included in the Other Backward Classes category. As a result, many sub-sects are deprived of government benefits. So they want inclusion of all sub-sects in the OBC category.

The powerful Kuruba community that come under the 2A category demand that the state government should bring the community under the ST category. Niranjananadapuri Swamiji of Kaginele Mutt, along with community members, recently launched a 21-day padayatra to pressurise the government.

As every other community is demanding its pound of flesh, the Bommai government is now really on a sticky wicket at a time when the polls for Karnataka Assembly are only a few months away