BJP doesn't need a single Muslim vote: BJP leader KS Eshwarappa triggers fresh row

BJP leader and former Karnataka minister K S Eshwarappa on Monday said that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) didn’t need even a single vote from the Muslims in the upcoming Karnataka assembly elections, triggering a fresh controversy.

Eshwarappa was speaking about religious conversion at a Veerashaiva-Lingayat meeting in Shivamogga yesterday, where he went on to say that nationalist Muslims would vote for the saffron party anyway.

"We don't want even a single Muslim vote," Eshwarappa was quoted as saying by news agency ANI during the event. "We don’t need Muslim votes because we lent much help to the Muslims when they had health or educational issues, and such Muslims will vote for us," he further said.

“We should send out a clear message to those fighting the elections by raising caste issues. We should show that we are united and nothing can divide us. They (Congress) say that there are 50,000 to 55,000 Muslim voters (in Shivamogga constituency). We don’t need even one. I am saying directly that we don’t need even one,” the former minister, who is known for his controversial remarks, said.

BJP Parliamentary Board member B S Yediyurappa and Shivamogga MP B Y Vijayendra were also present at the meeting.

Eshwarappa had recently announced his retirement from electoral politics and had asked the party not to field him in the upcoming Assembly polls saying that he was staying away to help the BJP reach a majority.

The BJP leader also heaped praises on party veteran B S Yediyurappa, saying, "Yediyurappa is a model leader for Hindus, including Lingayats. He is a true Hindu and party candidate Channabasappa is a leader who can build the Hindu community in the city.

"Many people say to me that if any other party wins, there will be no security for Hindus," Eshwarappa further said, according to a report by The New Indian Express.

He also accused the Opposition of trying to divide the country. "We don’t allow making Hindus inferior and Muslims superior. But, some nationalist Muslims will definitely vote for the BJP. Let those anti-nationals who identify themselves with Congress continue to do so. All have failed in dividing Hindus in the name of caste," the veteran leader was quoted as saying by TNIE.

Karnataka government recently made some significant changes in the norms for reservation in government jobs and education for backward classes and Scheduled Castes (SCs) in the state.

The Basavaraj Bommai government had on March 30 notified a decision taken by the cabinet to scrap the 4% backward classes quota for Muslims and to reallot the Muslim OBC quota to the two most dominant communities in the state, Lingayats and Vokkaligas. The Supreme Court has since ordered it to be kept on hold until hearing on petitions against the decision is completed.

The state Congress had opposed the decision saying, “May it be backward classes, minorities, Vokkaligas or Lingayats, they are not beggars.”

Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president D K Shivakumar had also accused the government of having contempt for Dalits and minorities.

Eshwarappa’s remarks come as Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had said at a rally in Kolar, “When we talk about the distribution of wealth, distribution of power… the first step should be to find out the population of every caste”.

He also suggested that reservations for SC and STs should be proportionate to their population and sought removal of the Supreme Court-mandated 50% cap on reservation. Gandhi has repeatedly called for a caste census in the state in back-to-back rallies.

This is not the first time Eshwarappa has courted a controversy with his comments. He has been accused of hate speech and anti-Muslim campaigns during his tenure as the Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj in the Government of Karnataka.

He was forced to resign from the ministry days after he was named as an accused in a case registered over a contractor Santosh Patil’s death.