Muslim religious leaders in Karnataka have accused the Congress party of having a double standard—penalising Muslim party leaders for ‘anti-party activities’ during the Davangere South bye-election, without so much as issuing a show cause notice, while leaders such as the late Shamanur Shivashankarappa were allowed to go scot free in the past.
Religious scholars belonging to different organisations held a press conference in Bengaluru on Thursday, April 16, accusing the Congress of unfairly dismissing MLC Abdul Jabbar from the party’s primary membership and firing MLC Naseer Ahmed from his post as political Secretary to chief Minister Siddaramaiah.
The Congress removed Naseer Ahmed from his post on April 14 and suspended Abdul Jabbar from the primary membership of the party, for “anti party activities” on April 15.
These developments came after Congress leaders MLA Rizwan Arshad and MLC and Chief Whip in the Legislative Council Saleem Ahmed held a press conference following the Davangere South bypoll, accusing “some” leaders of ‘working against the party’s official candidate’.
Addressing the media, Mufti Iftekhar Ahmed Qasimi, president of the Jamiat Ulama Karnataka, said that if the party believed that Naseer Ahmed or Abdul Jabbar had indeed worked against the party, the party should have followed due procedure, issued them a show cause notice and given them a chance to explain themselves.
While Naseer Ahmed and Abdul Jabbar were unceremoniously dismissed, the party had not taken any action when other people had ‘worked against the party’.
“When Shamanur Shivashankarappa openly campaigned for BS Yeddyurappa’s son BY Raghavendra in Shivamogga during the Lok Sabha election in 2024, no action was taken against him. No show cause notice was issued to him. But (when it comes to Muslims), just on the basis of doubt, the party has taken action,” Ifthikar said.
Abdul Jabbar too made similar remarks on Wednesday, April 15, following his suspension. He accused the party of being partial in its treatment of various leaders. He said that the party had taken no action against Shamanur Shivashankarappa who had openly supported BY Raghavendra of the BJP during the 2024 Lok Sabha election. “I should’ve been told the basis on which I was being suspended. I could’ve responded,” Jabbar said.
Maulana Shabeer Ahmed Nadvi, president of Welfare of Humanity Foundation, alleged that even in other instances in which Congress party workers had worked for the opposition’s candidates, no action had been taken against anyone. He claimed such instances had occurred in Raichur, Vijayapura, Gangavathi and Hebbal during the Assembly elections in 2023.
Muslim representation
Ifthikar also expressed disappointment on the Congress party’s overall handling of the Davangere bypoll. He said that several religious leaders had met senior Congress leaders ahead of the 2023 assembly elections and urged the Congress to field a Muslim candidate from the seat as the constituency has a large number of voters. However, the senior party leadership had said that the seat would be given to Shamanur Shivashankarappa’s family, after which the Muslim leaders compromised.
He said that after the Davangere South and Bagalkot bye-elections were necessitated after the deaths of Shivashankarappa and HY Meti, the Congress party decided to give the party ticket to Samarth Mallikarjun, Shamanur Shivashankarappa’s grandson, saying that even in the case of the Bagalkot seat, the ticket had been given to HY Meti’s son and that the same principle must be followed.
“But Davangere South and Bagalkot are not the same. We have no problem with HY Meti’s son being given the ticket. But Shamanur Shivashankarappa’s son SS Mallikarjun is an MLA (Davangere North) and minister, his daughter-in-law Prabha Mallikarjun is Davangere MP. For one family and one bye-election, the party is disappointing and letting down the whole Muslim community and the Ahinda communities who supported the Congress in the 2023 elections. This is a wrong step,” Ifthikar said. Ahinda is a Kannada acronym for Dalit, backward classes and minorities.
Zulfikar Ahmed Noori, an Imam-o-Khateeb, said that “We feel as if Muslims are being asked for their votes, but when it comes to Muslims asking for their rights, they’re being made mujrim (accused or disregarded). Abdul Jabbar, who worked for the party for so many years, was removed like a fly from milk. Naseer Ahmed was also removed from his post,” Zilfikar said.
Shabeer Ahmed also pointed out that several issues that the Congress had promised in its 2023 manifesto, such as the repealing the anti-conversation law, the hijab issue and reservation for Muslims had still not been addressed.
Civil society condemnation
Civil society group Eddelu Karnataka also called out the Congress party for “bowing to the power of family, caste and money”. They called the “revengeful actions” being taken by the high command against its own minority leaders as “infuriating”.
They blamed Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar for penalizing leaders from the minority community instead of introspecting, and called the Congress “lazy” and accusing them of “creating division among minority leaders.”