SC caste survey report to be discussed at Special Cabinet meet in Karnataka on August 16
Bengaluru: The Karnataka Cabinet will hold a special meeting on August 16 to discuss the Justice HN Nagamohan Das Commission’s report on internal reservation among Scheduled Castes.
Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister HK Patil stated that the Commission surveyed 92% of the population across 101 SC communities. “Copies of the report have been distributed to all the members of the Cabinet. Everyone will come to the special cabinet meeting after reading the report and participate in the discussion,” he said.
The report was formally submitted to the Cabinet on Thursday.
According to sources quoted by The New Indian Express, key ministers from SC communities — including Social Welfare Minister Dr HC Mahadevappa, Home Minister Dr G Parameshwara, Food and Civil Supplies Minister KH Muniyappa, Excise Minister RB Thimmapur, RDPR Minister Priyank Kharge, and Backward Classes Development Minister Shivaraj Tangadagi — have so far refrained from speaking much about the report.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has urged the ministers to thoroughly review the report before the meeting and return prepared for a constructive debate in the special Cabinet.
The Congress government faces mounting pressure from the leadership of the SC Left community, which has long demanded internal reservations. The push for implementation intensified after the Supreme Court, on August 1, 2024, ruled that states are constitutionally empowered to sub-classify SC quotas.
However, leaders from Bhovi and Lambani communities have cautioned against hasty implementation. The government is expected to take a decision, especially as recruitment processes remain stalled pending sub-classification of the SC quota.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
