Even as the battle over the Wakf Board Act amendment is going on in the Supreme Court, outside in the political arena, insinuations and outright charges are being made on the Congress party and its leaders that they were creating a “mini-Pakistan” through minority appeasement.

On a day when Karnataka Chief Minister S Siddaramaiah sought to corner the prime minister on the unemployment front and question him about his promise to give two crore jobs to the people, the leader of the Opposition in R Ashoka hit out against him for criticising the PM and charging him with dividing the society along religious and caste lines.

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Addressing a rally at Belagavi, Ashoka said that the chief minister was trying to turn Karnataka into a ‘mini-Pakistan’ to appease Muslims. “This is not just BJP’s journey of outrage, but the people’s outrage,” Ashoka said at the rally and added, There is even suspicion of foreign interference in making Muslims number one. To appease them, he has divided all castes and created a mini Pakistan.”

Siddaramaiah too was in Kalaburagi today to inaugurate a job fair. Speaking on the occasion, he took the prime minister to task for his failure on the employment front. “The prime minister had promised to provide two crore jobs every year. But even 20 lakh jobs have not been provided in the ten years of his rule. These are his own words, yet he failed to deliver and misled the public,” the chief minister said.

“On the other hand,” he said, “We had promised to implement five guarantees if the Congress government came to power. Under the Yuva Nidhi scheme, we are providing an honorarium of ₹2,000 per month for degree-holding unemployed youth and ₹1,500 for diploma holders for a period of two years.”

The state government has set up a department of skill development to provide training based on market demand. “Those who did not get a job at today’s job fair should not be disappointed. We will help you secure employment in the future,” he assured.

“According to the Periodic Labour Force Survey, the unemployment rate among degree holders in the country is 18.9%, and among diploma holders, it’s 17.1%. In Karnataka, the unemployment rate stands at 2.5%, which is relatively lower than in other states. This is evidence of the proactive steps taken by the State government in providing employment,” he claimed.