With less than two years left for Karnataka to go to polls, the Congress government led by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah continues to be unsuccessful in passing the anti-superstition bill.
When the bill was tabled in the cabinet on Friday, it failed to receive consent from the ministers, except for law minister TB Jayachandra and the CM himself. The bill has been deferred to the next meeting for the fourth time.
According to reports, the ministers opposed the bill for a number of reasons, beginning with the nomenclature of the bill. The ministers wanted the word ‘superstition’ to be dropped after which it was renamed Karnataka Prevention and Eradication of Human Sacrifices and Other Inhuman Evil and Aghori Practices and Black Magic Bill 2016.
One of the CM’s early promises after assuming office in 2013 was the implementation of the anti-superstition bill and it continues to remain unimplemented, even in its heavily diluted form.
Apart from the fear that banning the 23 practices listed in the bill would attract the wrath of voters in their respective constituencies, the ministers are reported to have been wary of BJP’s opposition to the bill.