Mysuru: Former member of parliament and senior Congress leader V S Ugrappa Saturday said both the Union and state govts have failed to ensure social justice for marginalised communities. “I am saying this with great pain,” Ugrappa told reporters here. He alleged that socially and educationally backward communities in the state did not receive justice in proportion to their population.
He urged chief minister Siddaramaiah to immediately convene an all-party meeting and lead a delegation to meet the Prime Minister Narendra Modi to address the issue. “Do not test the patience of SC and ST communities. Protect those who voted for you,” he said. He accused both govts of ignoring the concerns of backward communities and treating them merely as vote banks. “Reservation is not anyone’s personal property. We are not begging for alms,” he asserted. According to him, Scheduled Castes (SC) constitute 17%, Scheduled Tribes (ST) 7%, and Other Backward Classes (OBC) 32% of Karnataka’s population. Despite B R Ambedkar’s advocacy for reservation proportional to population, the policy was not implemented in letter and spirit, he rued. Ugrappa pointed out that Tamil Nadu implemented 69% reservation and argued that Karnataka should provide 56% reservation to SC, ST, and OBC communities. He urged both the Union and the state govts to include such provisions under the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution to safeguard these reservation provisions from legal challenges. Referring to the state govt’s announcement of filling 56,000 govt vacancies, he said according to the 7% quota, ST communities should be allotted around 3,750 posts. However, due to pending litigation and stay orders, only about 1,600 posts may go to ST candidates. Responding to questions on internal differences in Karnataka Congress, Ugrappa said: “It is true that everything is not smooth in state Congress.” However, he cautioned that “speaking casually in different forums” won’t help the party.
