New Delhi, March 26, 2023 (PPI-OT): A day after the Karnataka government announced to remove Muslims from the Other Backward Classes (OBC) category and accommodate reservations for them under the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) category, Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, an organisation of Indian Muslim scholars, declared that it would challenge the decision in court. Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Friday had announced his Cabinet’s decision to remove Muslims from the 2B category of Other Backward Classes (OBCs), which gave them 4% reservation. Maulana Mahmood Madani, president of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, called the move a “grave injustice meted out to Muslims”.

Speaking to reporters in Deoband, Uttar Pradesh, Madani said, “The decision does not go hand-in-hand with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s [promise of] Pasmanda Muslim upliftment. On one hand, the Prime Minister says he is promoting development policy for the marginalised section of Muslims, and on the other hand, his party’s government in Karnataka is snatching away reservation from them and distributing it among other classes.” Condemning the BJP government’s decision to scrap the 2B category of reservation for Muslims, former minister Tanveer Sait in a statement said the Congress, after coming into power will restore the Muslims quota.

The Waqf board expressed displeasure over the decision. And demanded the restoration of the reservation in the 2B category and claimed that the latest move by the government was an attempt to polarise votes in the poll-bound state. “We have no hope from the BJP government. We demand the four per cent reservation under the 2B category be brought back. They are trying to polarise votes by doing this. We have no objections to the reservations for other castes. We are unhappy with what is done to the Muslims,” said a board member.

“Under the 2B, it (reservation) was exclusively for us. Now, we have to compete with all the other stronger communities like Brahman, Vyasas, Jain, etc. We want the 2B reservation back,” the member said. He said that the board would be submitting a memorandum to the governor and would also hit the streets and raise the issue in front of the state’s legislative building.

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