JOIN USAs two dominant communities in Karnataka have taken to the streets demanding reservations, a question has arisen about the propriety of ministers being in the forefront of these protests. While Panchamasali Lingayats are demanding inclusion under 2-A category, Kurubas, who currently are classified as Backward Classes (BC), want to be considered as Scheduled Tribes (ST). Ministers of the Kuruba community like K S Eshwarappa, B A Basavaraj and M T B Nagaraj are causing acute embarrassment to Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa by openly protesting against their own government. This is only exposing their hypocrisy as being sitting ministers, the right way for them to approach the issue would be to move a resolution in the cabinet and bring pressure on the government from within, instead of creating a public spectacle. The politics behind this is more than evident, with Eshwarappa being accused of using the platform to realise his longstanding dream of replacing Congress’ Siddaramaiah as the top leader of the Kurubas. While community leaders have every right to protest in support of their demands, Yediyurappa should immediately direct his ministers to abandon the confrontationist path or resign. The ministers are showing up the state as well as his administration in poor light.
On the Panchamashali Lingayat front, however, ministers Murugesh Nirani and C C Patil are trying to broker peace between their community leaders and the government without plunging into the protests head-on. This is a mess of Yediyurappa’s own creation as he had made an election promise that this sub-sect of the Lingayat community would be brought under reservations, knowing fully well that he does not have the power to do so as it falls within the domain of the Centre. Now, in a flip-flop that has become ever so common, the Chief Minister has washed his hands off the issue and has asked community leaders to approach the Centre, further angering them. To complicate matters, around 200 seers of the community have demanded that all 100-odd sub-sects of Veerashaiva-Lingayats be brought under the quota ambit.
Not to be left out, many other communities such as Kodavas, too, have been demanding the ST tag. Given that the Supreme Court has capped reservations at 50% and the Constitution mandates a quota of 3% for STs, acceding to the request of all is no doubt a near-impossible task. While the government involves itself in finding ways to resolve the issue, Yediyurappa should ensure that his minsters become a part of the problem-solving mechanism rather than the problem itself.