Socio-educational survey of backward castes will not be postponed: Siddaramaiah
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday asserted that the socio-educational survey of backward castes will not be postponed, amid claims of dissent within his cabinet.
He said the Backward Class Commission would decide how to conduct the survey.
Responding to questions by reporters about reports that some ministers opposed the survey and sought a postponement, Siddaramaiah said, "We won’t postpone it. The Backward Class Commission is a constitutionally formed statutory body. We cannot give it any direction. We will not postpone it. They have sought an opinion. It (commission) will decide."
Dismissing claims that ministers were unhappy with the survey, he added, "The BJP is doing politics… They are projecting the Congress government as anti-Hindu. I told ministers to condemn it and give a proper reply to them."
During Thursday’s cabinet meeting, no decision was taken on the survey, which is being projected as a caste census.
Sources said some ministers raised concerns over the inclusion of Vokkaliga Christians, Lingayat Christians, Vishwakarma Brahmin Christians, Ganiga Christians, and Madiwala Christians.
Meanwhile, Union Minister Shobha Karandlaje criticised the chief minister over the survey, alleging, "Whenever Siddaramaiah fails, he comes out with a weapon called caste."
Karandlaje alleged Siddaramaiah had tried to divide Lingayats and Veera Shaivas during his previous tenure from 2013 to 2018, including attempts to percolate the issue at the village level.
"Now again, Siddaramaiah has moved ahead to break all the castes. After trying to divide various sub-castes within Vokkaligas, Lingayats and Ganigas, Siddaramaiah has brought out Vokkaliga Christians, Lingayat Christians and Ganiga Christians. Why are you doing this? This conspiracy is to take away our quota," she alleged.
She added, "If someone is a Christian, then they should put it in that manner only, and I have no objection to it. Those who have converted from SC/ST and OBC should write themselves as Christians. They will get facilities under the minority category."
"There is an organised conspiracy to take away the reservation of SC/ST and OBC in favour of those converted to Christianity," Karandlaje claimed, urging people to oppose the move.
She further alleged, "The time has come for all the Hindus to unite by keeping aside all our castes and sub-castes, or else we will be divided and distributed among people. What the British had done, this Siddaramaiah government has the same British mentality. We will not let it happen."
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Gurugram Police arrest BJP Yuva Morcha member for spreading fake murder story on social media
New Delhi: Gurugram Police have arrested BJP Yuva Morcha member Hariom Mishra, for allegedly spreading a fabricated and communally sensitive story on social media about the murder of a college student in Gurugram.
Mishra who is also known as Shaurya Mishra had shared a collage of four photographs on his X handle earlier this month. He claimed that a 24-year-old college student, identified as Nikita Agarwal, had been murdered by her classmate Arif Khan in Gurugram. In the post, he alleged that the woman was blackmailed, forced into prostitution, gangraped, and eventually killed. He also claimed that Arif dumped her body in a forest. The claims were presented as being based on police sources.
The post went viral and garnering over 1.5 lakh views, and was amplified by several right-wing social media handles across X, Facebook and Instagram. A verification of the claims revealed that no such incident had taken place in Gurugram. A search of credible news reports showed no record of any such murder. The police said this news would have inevitably attracted media attention if it were true.
On December 11, Gurugram Police publicly refuted the claims through their official X handle. They stated that the information which was being circulated was completely false. The police warned that legal action would be taken against those spreading misinformation. Despite the warning, Mishra neither deleted the post nor issued any clarification.
Police in Gurugram confirmed Mishra's arrest on December 16. The police said a FIR was filed after he continued to spread false information about the alleged murder of a Hindu woman by Muslim man. Police said Mishra, a resident of Uttar Pradesh's Kaushambi district, is now being investigated.
Gurugram Police spokesperson Sandeep Singh told The Print that the accused had deliberately misrepresented facts and used objectionable content to spread hatred along religious lines. “Such posts can create serious disturbances in society, and the police take these matters very seriously,” he said.
A reverse image search conducted by fact-checkers at Alt News, revealed that the photographs used in the viral post were unrelated to the claims, while two of the images were traced to a Pinterest account belonging to influencer Maulik Chopra and another image was sourced from an Instagram post by influencer Shivam Thakur featuring a woman named Deepanshi Rawat. The fourth image was found on an unrelated Instagram page. The images depicted different individuals and had no connection to any crime.
Police said they are also investigating Mishra’s motive behind sharing the false and provocative content.
