Siddaramaiah’s casteist division of milk producers harmful for Karnataka

Saswat Panigrahi

The Siddaramaiah-led Congress Government in Karnataka is in a tight spot again. In a further push to its dubious AHINDA agenda (Alpasankhyaatakaru, Hindulidavaru, Dalitaru meaning minorities, backwards and Dalits), the Siddaramaiah Government has announced an exclusive subsidy of Rs 2 per litre to milk suppliers belonging to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

The move confirms the fact that the Congress Government in Karnataka does not treat all milk producers equally. By giving precedence to milk producers belonging to some castes over others, the Siddaramaiah Government is creating disputes among poor milk producers.

“By dividing milk producers as Dalit and non-Dalit and giving some preference over others, the Siddaramaiah Government is creating a rift between the poor milk suppliers,” senior BJP leader and former Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa said. Yeddyurappa has urged the Chief Minister to extend the same subsidy to all the milk producers in the State.

KS Eshwarapa, another senior BJP leader from the State said, “The Chief Minister cannot discriminate between milk suppliers on the basis of their castes. Such a decision should not be taken in the first place. Through this decision, the Siddaramaiah Government has set another example of its divisive politics.”

It is not for the first time that the Congress Government in Karnataka is playing such divisive politics.

In November 2013, the Siddaramaiah Government introduced a scheme called Karnataka Darshan, a sponsored study tour exclusively meant for students belonging to Muslim and OBC communities. The announcement was followed by a massive Statewide protest by Opposition BJP which asked the Government not to discriminate against students on the basis of caste or community and extend the scheme to all deprived students. Under pressure, the Congress Government stepped back and the scheme was finally opened up to all poor students.

In October last, it was the Siddaramaiah Government which launched the Shaadi Bhagya Scheme which provides Rs 50,000 dole to poor girls belonging to the Muslim community at the time of their marriage. The scheme, which was promised in its State Budget, introduced in July 2013, in the run-up to the 2014 Lok Sabha election with an eye on the minority votes. The BJP has demanded extension of such a proposal to the girls belonging to all financially backward sections irrespective of their religion. But the Congress Government in the State is yet to feel the need to pay heed to the BJP’s demand.

Divide and rule is Congress’s old agenda, which the grand old party inherited from the British. In its present avatar, the Siddaramaiah Government is discriminating among the poor with the sole aim of creating a division among them.

A Chief Minister is expected to preside over the State’s governance and guide policy to achieve overall development. He is not in office to promote one community / caste over another. The poor can’t be divided on lines of caste and community for the sake of creating vote-banks. Siddaramaiah’s AHINDA agenda serves a narrow purpose and will affect social fabric of Karnataka.