Karnataka: Muslims’ meet demands better political representation for community

Bengaluru: A federation of Muslim organisations in Karnataka on Saturday adopted a three-tier 'charter of demands' seeking immediate legal, political and welfare measures from the Congress government, including restoration of 4% reservation for Muslims under Category 2B, repeal of the anti-conversion and cattle slaughter laws, protection against voter deletions, and enhanced political representation.

Among their demands, the community seeking better Muslim political representation - at least two Muslim nominees in the 2026 Legislative Council election - was significant especially in the light of the Davangere South bypoll that saw a division of Muslim votes leading to a low-margin victory of the Congress candidate.

Support for 'alternatives'

While the leaders and social activists urged the Siddaramaiah government to keep its poll promises, they also cautioned the Congress party against ignoring their demands stating the community had options and would support "alternatives" in all the future elections.

Welfare allocation

In its lists of medium and long-term demands, the federation called for a roadmap to an annual allocation of Rs 10,000-crore for minority welfare, expansion of the scholarship schemes, a legislation to overcome the 50% ceiling on reservation similar to the Tamil Nadu model, enhancement of the Category 2B reservation from 4% to 8%, and also a dedicated Waqf land recovery and litigation mission.

The federation also sought a binding timeline for the submission of the caste survey report, which could help the community get a fair representation and also reservation.

The resolutions were adopted at a convention held in Bengaluru, where the speakers urged the state government to treat the issues with seriousness and also to take immediate and legally durable corrective action during the upcoming monsoon session of the state 
legislature.

On SIR

Besides, the organisations sought the creation of a statutory authority to monitor hate speech, vigilantism, economic boycotts and communal offences and most importantly setting up of a state-level task force to
prevent wrongful deletion of genuine voters during the upcoming Special Intensive Revision (SIR).