Bengaluru, May 16 (PTI) The Karnataka Muslim Convention held here on Saturday noted that although improvements have been made in the education and welfare of the community, major concerns such as reservation, dignity, livelihood, religious freedom, protection from hate, and political representation remain unresolved or only partly addressed.
The convention, organised by the Federation of Karnataka Muslim Organisations, also released a 75-page report titled “Promises of Congress Government, Gaps in Delivery and Charter of Demands.” According to organisers, the report will be submitted to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, ministers, legislators, and senior leadership of the Government of Karnataka as a reminder of the commitments made to Karnataka’s Muslim and minority communities before, during, and immediately after the 2023 Assembly election.
“The issue before the community is not only that some schemes are delayed or underfunded. The deeper concern is that the most politically and constitutionally important assurances remain unfulfilled,” the report’s executive summary said.
“These were made through the KPCC Manifesto 2023, public statements of senior Congress leaders, election speeches, media interactions, Cabinet decisions, and post-election assurances,” he added.
Noting that about 13 per cent of Karnataka’s population is Muslim, and that the community supported Congress in the 2023 Assembly polls, hoping for better treatment of minorities, the report stated that three years later, while improvements have been made in education and welfare, major concerns remain unresolved or only partly addressed.
“These concerns include reservation, dignity, livelihood, religious freedom, protection from hate, and political representation,” it added.
Pointing out that the Congress manifesto also promised the repeal of “unjust and anti-people laws” introduced by the previous BJP government within one year of coming to power, the report said this assurance was significant because several BJP-era laws directly affected the religious freedom, food practices, culture, and constitutional rights of people in Karnataka, particularly minorities.
These included the anti-conversion law, the cattle slaughter law, and the Hijab government order.
This commitment was closely linked to Congress’s campaign against the BJP’s politics of polarisation. The community voted with the expectation that the government would not only stop further discrimination but also reverse laws and policies widely seen as discriminatory and targeted against minorities, it said.
“Three years later, however, the repeal of the anti-conversion law is still pending, and the cattle slaughter law remains in force. No clear legislative roadmap or timeline has been presented on these issues,” it said.
This has created a growing perception of a gap between the promises made in the manifesto and the actual legislative action taken by the government, the report further said.
“The concern is not only political but constitutional, as these measures continue to impact the dignity, freedoms, livelihoods, and equal citizenship of large sections of the population.” The Congress government, however, earlier this week withdrew a 2022 order banning hijab in classrooms.
It issued orders allowing students to wear limited traditional and faith-based symbols such as hijab/headscarf, turban, ‘Janeu’ (sacred thread), Shivadhara and Rudraksha along with prescribed uniforms in schools and pre-university colleges across the state.
Regarding political and executive representation, the report notes that in the 224-seat Legislative Assembly, Muslim MLAs account for roughly 4.4 per cent representation against a 13 per cent population share.
In the Legislative Council, available data indicate Muslim representation of about 4 out of 75 seats as of April 2026, still far below proportionate representation.
Assembly and local body representation must also be corrected through fair ticket allocation in constituencies and wards where Muslim voters form a decisive electoral bloc.
The report further said the number of Muslim candidates from the Congress party in Parliament, Assembly, and local bodies has seen a downward trend from election to election.
The report calls for the immediate restoration and legal defence of the original 4 per cent Category 2B backward-class reservation for Muslims.
It also calls for presenting Karnataka-specific backwardness data before the Supreme Court and relevant judicial forums, and for examining the reported recommendation to increase Category 2B from 4 to 8 per cent through a reasoned Cabinet note, legal vetting, and empirical justification.
Regarding SIR, the report said that if the exercise is ultimately unavoidable and cannot be halted, the government must put in place safeguards to ensure that no eligible voter is harassed, excluded, or disenfranchised during the process, particularly those belonging to vulnerable and marginalised communities.
The convention comes amid growing Muslim dissatisfaction with Congress, which has emerged during the Davanagere South bypolls.
Given its significant presence in the constituency, the Muslim community strongly demanded the Congress ticket for Davanagere South.
However, the party fielded late MLA Shamanur Shivashankarappa’s grandson, Samarth Mallikarjun. This is said to have caused disgruntlement among the community and Muslim leaders within Congress.
Congress subsequently took action against some Muslim leaders of the party following allegations of an “internal conspiracy” to defeat the candidate in Davanagere South, after which some clerics and leaders openly warned the grand old party. PTI KSU SSK
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