Among the southern states, Karnataka has been continually seeing some noise or the other related to minority affairs in the State. The moves to bring in any welfare measure to make the government schemes look more inclusive and lend a stamp of affirmative action on them have been critically examined and vehemently opposed by the Opposition parties (read BJP). With its earlier move to reserving four per cent of public contracts for minorities still stuck with the Governor, who has sought President’s approval for it, it is indeed a daredevil move by the Siddaramaiah government to introduce another scheme wherein minorities are to be provided with 15 per cent reservation in housing, which translates to a five per cent hike over the existing quota. Buoyed by a series of missteps taken by the Congress government in the Dakshina Kannada region where Hindu activism has been on the boil for quite some time now, the BJP naturally flayed the recent measure as ‘appeasement’ and accused the government of prioritising religion over welfare.

Even though the government quickly clarified that it was a scheme in existence since 2019 and not an arbitrary move, the BJP propaganda machinery right from Delhi to Bengaluru did not stop their attacks. Moreover, as the Minority and Housing Welfare Minister Zameer Ahmed Khan informed, it was a recommendation made by the coalition government headed by the then Chief Minister, HD Kumaraswamy. However, the chaos has not subsided. One may argue that the government is using these tactics to sidestep the terrible times they are going through currently with the Chinnaswamy Stadium stampede still going nowhere. Yet, the Congress has never shied away from its pro-minority moves even if it has run the risk of being called excessively partial towards their committed vote banks, which the state Muslims have often turned out to be. In a milieu where religion is often seen as a counter-weighing factor to political decision-making, taking on a fiery Opposition that has never shied away from its aggressive posturing and response has negated many a public welfare measure, which the Congress government proposed over the years.

This has become evident in Karnataka, ever since BJP ascended to power in 2008 and has grown from strength to strength to become a formidable political force. If the GOP thinks it is assuring the Muslim voters that they are always there for them,

it is an infructuous effort as the largest minority in the state would never veer towards the BJP. If one sees it as a regular administrative action, all the game plans they seem to be having are already common knowledge for their rivals, who have, over the years, unabashedly raised the communal temperature on the other side to keep their vote bank under control.

The truth is that the Congress government, despite the regularly reported tiff between the top two – Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar – faces no immediate threat from the Opposition, which is in no position to dethrone them. Moreover, the Congress has, in the recent past, never won two terms at a stretch anywhere in India and so they would rather bumble along, managing the BJP and its allies, doing what it does best. Till it is time to face the elections again.