No constitutional provision for Muslim reservations: Amit Shah

 BENGALURU: Two days after the BJP government in Karnataka scrapped four percent OBC reservation for Muslims, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday defended the move, saying there is no provision in the Constitution to provide reservations on the basis of religion.

Addressing a rally in poll-bound Karnataka's Bidar, he slammed the Congress for providing reservations on the basis of religion in the state. Shah said that the reservation for Muslims introduced by the previous Congress-led government in the state was not as per the Constitution.

In its last Cabinet meeting before the polls, the Basavaraj Bommai government on Friday scrapped the four percent OBC reservation for Muslims and distributed it to two dominant communities: the Veerashaiva-Lingayats and the Vokkaligas. The Cabinet decided to move OBC Muslims to the 10 percent Economically Weaker Section (EWS) category.

Shah said the Congress provided reservations to the minority as part of its polarisation politics. "The BJP scrapped that reservation and provided reservations to the Vokkaliga and Lingayat communities," he added.

He also inaugurated the 'Garota Shaheed Smarak' and a memorial for Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel during his visit to Karnataka on Sunday. The 20-foot-tall statue of Sardar Patel is a symbol of the significant role he played as the country's first home minister, he said.

He also highlighted the sacrifice of people in Gorata village who were allegedly killed by Razakars of Nizam, the ruler of Hyderabad State, for hosting a 2.5-foot-tall tricolour. Sheh said now, a 103-foot-tall tricolour has been hoisted on the same land.

The Union Home Minister also targeted the Congress party with what he calls vote bank politics. He alleged that the party never commemorated the martyrs of independence and Hyderabad liberation.

"Due to Congress's politics of polarisation and their greed for vote banks, they never commemorated the people who sacrificed themselves for independence and Hyderabad mukti," he said. (IANS)

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