Parl stalled over Shivakumar’s Muslim reservation remarks

Parliamentary proceedings were stalled on Monday over Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar’s purported remarks in defence of Muslim reservation in state government contracts even as the Congress veteran denied statements senior BJP leaders attributed to him.

Advertisement

The Rajya Sabha was adjourned for the day at 2.30 pm after witnessing multiple disruptions on the matter. The Lok Sabha too failed to transact work till 2 pm after which the Finance Bill-2025 discussions were taken up.

In both Houses, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju led the BJP’s offensive demanding that Shivakumar be sacked for saying “the Constitution be changed to accommodate Muslim reservation”.

Leader of the House in the Rajya Sabha JP Nadda also attacked Shivakumar for the remarks, with the BJP accusing the Congress of violating Dr BR Ambedkar’s Constitution by pushing religion-based quota, which the Constitution bars.

At the heart of today’s storm was Shivakumar’s purported statement, made during an interaction with a TV channel, where he suggested that a “good day” may come when the Constitution may be changed to accommodate quota for Muslims.

In the Rajya Sabha, Rijiju and Nadda both alleged that the Congress liked to pose as the saviour of the Constitution, but actually worked to undermine the Constitution.

At one point today, Leader of Opposition in RS Mallikarjun Kharge countered the BJP saying it was RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat who spoke of changing the Constitution and not the Congress.

“The BJP is using a fake issue to suppress the matter of unaccounted cash recovered from a judge’s house,” Kharge said.

The Congress also hit back with privilege notices against Rijiju and Nadda.

The Congress chief whip in the Rajya Sabha, Jairam Ramesh, submitted the notices to RS secretary general, accusing both leaders of trying to “blatantly mislead the House with false statements”. Ramesh said this amounted to “breach of privilege and contempt of the House”.

Outside Parliament, the BJP escalated its attack on the issue, recalling how it had faced the impact of the Congress’s 2024 Lok Sabha poll campaign, which claimed the BJP sought 400 seats to amend the Constitution.

Addressing mediapersons, BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad condemned Shivakumar’s remarks, questioning how far the Congress would go for vote bank politics.

“The Karnataka Congress government’s 4 per cent reservation for Muslims in government contract allocation is entirely unlawful and unconstitutional. Rahul Gandhi no longer makes his occasional temple visits. Facing repeated election defeats, he has now turned to Muslim appeasement politics. Have Congress, the Samajwadi Party and Leftist parties surrendered their political decisions to radical Muslim clerics?” Prasad asked.

In the Lok Sabha earlier today, Congress and Samajwadi Party MPs countered the ruling side’s accusations in respect of Shivakumar’s remarks.

Ramesh said the “fake issue had been invented to divert attention from the recovery of cash from the Delhi High Court judge’s residence”.