Misleading Communal Claims About Congress Manifesto Shared by BJP Karnataka

The Congress manifesto does not mention Muslims rather uses religious minorities as the term.

Fact-Check: BJP Karnataka has shared misleading communal claims about the Congress manifesto. 

(Source: Altered by The Quint) 

With the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party's Karnataka X (formerly Twitter) has hit out at the Congress party's election manifesto.

The BJP has claimed that the Congress's manifesto favours the Muslim community in India. They even questioned the manifesto by calling it a "Muslim League Manifesto."

Following are the points that the BJP have pulled up:

• Hijab Enforcement in Educational Institutions.

• Wealth Distribution to Muslims.

• Special Reservations to Muslims.

• Freedom to Practice Personal Laws.

• Muslims to be Directly Appointed as Judges.

• Mandate to Public & Private entities to hire Muslims.

An archive of the post can be found here. 

(Source: X/Screenshot) 

This post recorded 85.4K views at the time of writing this story. (Archives of similar views can be found here and here.)

Is this true?: The claim is misleading.

• Firstly, the points pulled up from the manifesto by the BJP are not mentioned.

• Nowhere in the Congress manifesto has the party mentioned the Muslim community explicitly.

How did we find out?: To verify the claim, we directly opened Congress's manifesto or the 'Nyay Patra.'

Here is the copy of the manifesto. 

(Source: Congress/Screenshot) 

We will break down this story into six sub-categories to verify each claim:

Claim 1: Hijab Enforcement in Educational Institutions

To check whether such a point is stated in the policy statement, we went through the document and did not find any mention of hijab enforcement in educational institutions.

• Under the religious and linguistic minorities category, the party has mentioned that it will ensure that every citizen has the freedom of choice of dress, food, language and personal laws.

• Yet again, the hijab is not mentioned by the party.

Here is a screenshot from the manifesto.

(Source: Congress/Screenshot)

Claim 2: Wealth Distribution to Muslims

We looked through the manifesto to find the mention of wealth distribution to 'Muslims.' However, the manifesto has not stated anything of this nature.

• Under its religious and linguistic minorities category, it talks about the economic empowerment of minorities.

• It also notes the guarantee that banks will provide institutional credit to minorities without any discrimination.

Here is a screenshot from the manifesto.

(Source: Congress/Screenshot)

Claim 3: Special Reservations to Muslims

Team WebQoof looked at all points mentioned in the document about reservations however, did not come across any that specifically catering to the Muslim community.

• In the 'Social Justice' category, the Congress spoke about passing a constitutional amendment to raise the 50 percent cap on reservations for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes (OBC).

• It also mentioned that a 10 percent reservation in jobs and educational institutions for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) will be applied to all castes and communities without any discrimination.

Here is a screenshot from the manifesto.

(Source: Congress/Screenshot)

With reference to reservations in private educational institutions, the Congress party noted that a law in lines with Article 15 (5) - enables the state to reserve seats in educational institutions, such as private schools or colleges, regardless of government aid - for SC and ST communities and OBCs.

Here is a screenshot from the manifesto.

(Source: Congress/Screenshot)

Similarly in the women empowerment category of the mission document, the party mentions about some provisions of the Women Reservation Bill or the Constitution (106th) Amendment Act.

• It is mentioned that the Congress will enact the Amendment Act without delay.

• Even here, there is no mention about any specific category of women.

Here is a screenshot from the manifesto.

(Source: Congress/Screenshot)

Claim 4: Freedom to Practice Personal Laws 

There are two points about personal laws mentioned in the manifesto:

The Congress party will guaranteed that minorities, like all citizens, have the freedom to choose their attire, cuisine, language, and personal regulations.

They also mentioned about promoting the modernisation of personal regulations, ensuring that such changes are made in collaboration with and with the consent of the respective communities.

Here is a screenshot from the manifesto.

(Congress/Screenshot)

Claim 5: Muslims to be Directly Appointed as Judges

The party's manifesto mentions a few points about the appointment of judges however, there is no mention about religion vis-a-vis judges appointment.

Under the Women Empowerment and Judiciary categories, Congress speaks about ensuring that more women are appointed to high positions such as judges, secretaries to government, high ranking police officers, law officers and directors on the boards of listed companies.

It also states that a greater number of women and individuals from the SC, ST, OBC, and minority communities will be selected as judges for the High Courts and the Supreme Court.

Here is a screenshot from the manifesto.

(Source: Congress/Screenshot)

Here is a screenshot from the manifesto.

(Source: Congress/Screenshot)

Claim 6: Mandate to Public & Private entities to hire Muslims

The manifesto mentions about opportunities in the public and private entities in the country.

It talks about ensuring that minority groups should be provided with equal opportunities in education, healthcare, public employment, public works contracts, skill development, sports, and cultural activities without facing any discrimination.

Here is a screenshot from the manifesto.

(Congress/Screenshot)

Another point of the manifesto mentions that the Congress plans to create a Diversity Commission, which will assess, oversee, and encourage diversity in both public and private sectors' employment and education.

Here is a screenshot from the manifesto.

(Congress/Screenshot)

Nowhere does the manifesto talk about catering specifically to the Muslim community.

Congress Reacts: Hitting back at the BJP leaders for calling Congress manifesto in lines with the Muslim league, the party's president Mallikaarjun Kharge said, "how promising employment to youth, MSP to farmers and money to women related to Muslim League," as reported by ANI.

Team WebQoof has previously fact-checked a similar claim regarding the Congress manifesto. Read our story here.

Conclusion: Clearly, the BJP's Karnataka X handle has spread a misleading communal narrative about the Congress's manifesto.

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