Muslim leaders slam Karnataka govt for scrapping reservation, to challenge move in court
Bengaluru, Mar 25: The Karnataka BJP government's decision to remove Muslims from the 2B category of Other Backward Classes, which gave them four per cent reservation, has come under fire from leaders of the Muslim community who say they will challenge the move in court.
The Karnataka Cabinet, which met on Friday, had also decided to split this quantum of four per cent equally between Vokkaligas and Veerashaiva-Lingayats at two per cent each in jobs and admissions in educational institutions.
The move, which comes ahead of the Assembly elections that are due by May, was welcomed by the two politically influential communities.
The government's decision has left Muslims to compete with the general category for the 10 per cent reservation meant for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS), which is decided based on family income.
Muslim leaders called it a "grave injustice meted out to them".
The Karnataka Cabinet also made recommendations to the Union government regarding internal reservation for Scheduled Castes: six per cent for SC (Left), 5.5 per cent SC (Right), 4.5 per cent to "Touchables" and one per cent to others (total 17 per cent).
But Dalit leaders are unimpressed with the internal reservation, and said it meant nothing until the 17 per cent for the SCs passed by the Karnataka Legislature got Constitutional validity.
A Muslim leader alleged that the community's rights had been snatched away.
Some top Muslim religious leaders of Karnataka on Saturday held a meeting where they denounced the move and vowed to fight it out legally. They also called it a political move by the BJP government to win the upcoming Assembly election.
"Today, Muslims are below the SC and ST in terms of education. You can make out from the atrocities being perpetrated against the Muslims," Maulavi Maqsood Imran of Jamia Masjid and a member of the Ulema Council told PTI, adding, "We will not hit the street or create ruckus on the road. We will fight for our rights legally."
He said there was no objection to Vokkaligas and Lingayats getting additional reservation but it should not happen by taking away someone else's rights.
"We want to appeal to the Vokkaliga and Lingayat seers whether they would like to take those rights which were snatched from others and given to them. We want them to build pressure on the government to get their due share of reservation," he said.
According to him, it was possible to enhance the reservation for Vokkaligas and Lingayats without taking it away from Muslims.
In the meeting at the Khadaria Masjid on Millers Road, Muslim religious leaders also consulted lawyers on taking forward the fight legally.
Meanwhile, Dalit Sangharsh Samiti (Ambedkar Vada) leader Mavalli Shankar said the internal reservation for the SCs would not stand court scrutiny.
"Till the time the 17 per cent reservation gets constitutional validity as was done for Economically Weaker Sections, the internal reservation for the SC (Left), SC (Right), SC (Touchables) and other SCs has no meaning," Shankar told PTI.
A senior Dalit officer too expressed his unhappiness over the internal reservation saying it was just an eyewash because there was no constitutional validity to the 17 per cent reservation proposed for the SCs by the State government.
After the Karnataka government decided to increase the reservation for Vokkaligas in 2C category from four per cent to six per cent and Lingayats in 2D category from five per cent to seven per cent, Basava Jaya Mrutyunjaya Swamiji of Panchamasali Peeth ended his two-year old agitation.
He, however, said he had only "halted" the agitation till the elections are over and would renew his demands until they are met completely.
According to the Swamiji, the demand was for 15 per cent reservation for Lingayats.
Sri Nirmalanandanatha Swamiji, a key religious leader of the Vokkaliga community, expressed his happiness over the two per cent increase in reservation for the Vokkaligas.
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IOA Impasse: Usha, EC members clash on CEO appointment; deadlock persists
New Delhi (PTI): Indian Olympic Association President PT Usha had another heated confrontation with the body's Executive Council on Thursday after a majority of its members reiterated their opposition to Raghuram Iyer's appointment as CEO but the embattled track-and-field great refused to back down and rejected their demand for his removal.
The main agenda of the meeting called by Usha was ratification of Iyer's appointment as CEO on January 5 but it ended in a deadlock. With both sides sticking to their earlier stands, the bitter feud is expected to worsen in the coming days.
"They want to re-initiate the whole process, they want to re-advertise afresh. It's like saying we don't want this person and let us start the process from the scratch," a furious Usha said after the meeting.
"This process (of appointment of CEO) took two years and now they want to start all over again. This is going to have repercussions (from the IOC). It can jeopardise India's chances of bidding for and hosting the 2036 Olympics," she warned.
"I am not going to accept this. I have told this to the IOC (International Olympic Committee). I am not a quitter, I am not going anywhere without cleaning the IOA," she asserted.
Interestingly, IOC Director Jerome Poivy joined the meeting online and watched the confrontation unfold.
Undeterred by Usha's warnings, 10 members of the EC, who attended the meeting in person, issued a statement, saying that they have decided to re-initiate the process of appointment of the CEO.
"The ratification of Mr lyer as the CEO was not approved. Further it was decided that process of the appointment of the CEO be re-initiated with new terms of reference," the statement said.
They stated that IOC representative called the entire fiasco "an internal matter of the IOA" and had "no specific views or interference" on the subject.
Before joining the IOA, Iyer had worked as EO of IPL sides Rajasthan Royals and Lucknow Super Giants. He had also held administrative roles in football's Indian Super League and Ultimate Table Tennis.
"The Members further, in the presence of the IOC Director, stated that the process for the advertisement of the CEO should be initiated at the earliest where it was anticipated that the appointment can be concluded in the next two months," the statement from the revolting EC members read..
Senior vice president Ajay H Patel, vice presidents RajLaxmi Deo and Gagan Narang, Treasurer Sahdev Yadav, Joint Secretary Alaknanda Ashok, other Executive Council members Amitabh Sharma, Bhupender Singh Bajwa, Rohit Rajpal, Dola Banerjee, and Yogeshwar Dutt were present in person.
Joint Secretary Kalyan Chaubey and Executive Council member Harpal Singh joined online.
The members felt that while a "CEO is a must and should be appointed", but voted against the nomination of lyer for the position.
"...the agenda was to put to vote where the 10 physical members and 2 members who joined online expressed their dissent on the agenda and the vote was 12 against the ratification of the CEO."
"...the acting CEO Kalyan Chaubey, who is the Joint Secretary of the IOA, shall continue to discharge the duties as per the provisions laid out in the Constitution," the statement of the majority EC members said.
Usha, on her part, said that the EC members have gone back on their word as they had agreed to the appointment of the CEO in the January meeting.
"The EC meeting held in January was video-recorded. I asked each one of them whether they agree to the appointment of Iyer as the CEO or not. All of them said Iyer is good and everything about him is all right. Only his salary will have to be negotiated," she stated.
"I asked them what is the lower rate (limit) and what is the higher limit of his salary. That (salary) they did not mention.
"Then his (Iyer's) appointment was done and I communicated it to IOC and OCA and everybody accepted it."
The bone of contention is the Rs 20 lakh per month salary for Iyer, along with other perks.
Usha said she offered to renegotiate Iyer's salary in Thursday's meeting but the 12 EC members were adamant about starting the process afresh.
She said the latest development could jeopardise India's chances of bidding for the 2036 Olympics.
"Only after the appointment (of the CEO) was done, the Future Host Commission agreed to have a dialogue with us, otherwise they would not agree to it. The CEO will have to lead the negotiations, we have to show professionalism, otherwise how would we got to present our bid?" she asked.
She said the IOC could have taken a drastic step even before the Paris Olympics but desisted from that.
"I was there, that is why IOC was waiting for two years. It (IOC action) could have happened before Paris Olympics but they waited.
"Iyer was in the Co-ordination Committee and not the IOA president, that was why we could compete under Indian flag and not under the IOC flag."
She said Iyer and her personal assistant Ajay Narang, whose appointment was "cancelled" by the majority EC members, have not got salary since their appointment.
