VHP to hold protests in K'taka on Apr 8 against reservation for Muslims in public contracts

Bengaluru: The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) on Saturday announced that it will hold protests at all district headquarters of the state on April 8 to raise public awareness against the government’s decision to introduce a 4 per cent reservation for Muslims in public contracts.

A massive protest rally will be held in Freedom Park here on the same day, it said.

The ‘Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurements (Amendment) Bill, 2025’, was passed by the legislature last month reserving for Muslims 4 percent of contracts in (civil) works valued up to Rs 2 crore, and goods/services procurement contracts up to Rs 1 crore.

The Governor’s assent is now required for the Bill to become an Act. The VHP strongly condemned the bill, saying the reservation is purely based on religion, which is “unacceptable”.

“According to Article 15 of the Constitution, drafted under the leadership of Dr B R Ambedkar, discrimination on the basis of religion, race, caste, sex, or place of birth is prohibited. However, the Karnataka Government has approved this bill unconstitutionally, motivated by appeasement politics and vote bank considerations,” the VHP said.

In 2005, when the Andhra Pradesh government approved a similar bill providing 5 per cent reservation (for seats in educational institutions and appointments or posts in public services), a five-judge bench of the AP High Court ruled that such reservation was unconstitutional, it said.

The HC stated that identifying the entire Muslim community as a Backward Class was unscientific and unconstitutional. This judgment still stands as final, and no ruling from the Supreme Court has overridden it, it added.

Wondering whether the Karnataka government was unaware of this, the VHP said, “In light of this, the Karnataka government’s bill is also invalid.” “We have already brought all these matters to the attention of the Hon’ble Governor through a formal memorandum and are hopeful of a positive response from him,” it added.