Kuruba Siddaramaiah gets goat, blanket as gifts

Bengaluru, Aug 28: It was back to his roots for chief minister Siddaramaiah when he got some unusual gifts on Sunday -- a goat, colourful headgear and a blanket -- at a function organized by the Karnataka Pradesh Kurubara Sangha.

The gifts were from a party functionary from Raichur district and an ardent fan of the CM, Anjaneya, who carried the goat and other presents to the dais but was stopped by party workers. Siddaramaiah, who noticed the fracas, asked them to allow Anjaneya to come up.

A visibly elated Anjaneya came to the stage, greeted his icon and offered his rare gifts, as onlookers cheered.

The goat and blanket hold significance to Kurubas - the community to which Siddaramaiah belongs - who traditionally rear sheep and goats and sell blankets. They live near the forest and cultivate small patches of land.

After the felicitations, Siddaramaiah said: "I was born, accidentally, in the Kuruba community. Nobody files an application to be born in any particular community. I don't practice or believe in the caste system. What I believe in is uplifting poor and downtrodden communities, which I have been seriously pursuing as a politician. My political opponents brand me as Ahinda CM but I am in favour of all communities, while my focus and priority is the poor."

Siddaramaiah also expressed serious concern at the Centre's move to centralize functions relating to safeguarding the interests of socially and educationally backward classes.

A select committee is looking into the Constitution (123rd amendment) Bill, 2017, that enables states to send their demands for inclusion in the other backward classes (OBC) list to the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC), who then may or may not forward them to the Union government.