The Karnataka Police has booked journalist and news anchor Sudhir Chaudhary of Aaj Tak for allegedly spreading misinformation about a commercial vehicle subsidy scheme for religious minorities in the state.
The Hindi TV news channel ran a show on Monday claiming that the 'Swavalambi Sarathi 'scheme by the Karnataka Minorities Development Corporation is not offered to Hindus.
He alleged that the Congress government in Karnataka had said that the scheme would be made available to those from the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, but no such notification had been released so far. Soon after his statements came to the fore, Karnataka minister Priyank Kharge accused him of spreading misinformation and threatened legal action.
What is the scheme?
In an advertisement, the Karnataka Minorities Development Corporation promised a subsidy of 50 per cent on vehicle value or up to Rs 3 lakh to people from religious minorities with a household income less than Rs 4.5 lakh to purchase commercial vehicles. As per the eligibility criteria for the scheme, an applicant is eligible to apply for its benefits only if he/she or their family members have not availed benefits of any other scheme in the last five years, except the Airavatha Scheme of the Dr Ambedkar Development Corporation Limited.
In Karnataka, Muslims, Christians, Jains, Buddhists, Sikhs, and Parsis are classified as religious minorities.
While the vehicle subsidy scheme Swavalambi Sarathi can be availed by minority, SC/ST and backward classes communities, the Airavatha Scheme can be availed by SC/ST community members. However, the news anchor failed to mention the latter and claimed that the former scheme was discriminatory as Hindus could not access it, when in fact, the Airavatha Scheme assists citizens from the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in taking up work with cab aggregators and provides for a subsidy of Rs 5 lakh to buy a light motor vehicle.
The news anchor has been booked under sections 505 (statements conducing to public mischief) and 153A (promoting enmity between different groups) of the Indian Penal Code, Eedina.com reported.
After he was booked, Chaudhary questioned why a case under non-bailable sections was filed against him for “asking a question”. He said, “I too am ready for this battle. We will meet in court now.”
Several BJP leaders too questioned the scheme. BJP MP Tejasvi Surya had earlier accused the Congress of funding a 'religion targeted scheme' and 'appeasing' Muslim voters. Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar said the scheme was an instance of “shameless bribing of a community by using public resources meant for all Kannadigas”.
Meanwhile, Manoj Jain, Secretary to the Karnataka Minority Welfare Department, said that the scheme was in place before the Congress came to power. “The scheme was earlier for Rs. 2.5 lakh and it is now increased to Rs. 3 lakh under the Swavalambi Sarathi scheme,” he said, according to The News Minute.
