Does Karnataka state budget favour Muslim community more? Fact-Check

Several claims are circulating on social media suggesting that the Karnataka state budget provides significant financial and other benefits exclusively to the Muslim community. Critics have categorically accused the Congress-led government of appeasement, calling it a “Muslim League Budget.”

Here are some of their claims being shared online:

• ₹1,000 crore allocated for minority development
• ₹150 crore for Waqf property protection
• ₹100 crore for Urdu schools
• Increase in Imams’ salaries to ₹6,000
• Self-defense training only for girls from minority communities
• Construction of large community halls for Muslims in every taluk.

Similar posts can be accessed here and here.

FACT-CHECK

Similar claims have been made against the Congress Party’s government in Karnataka last year storming the social media, which has been debunked by Digiteye India here. This year too similar claims have been made and our team took it up to scrutinise the claims.

When the team scrutinised the Karnataka State Budget 2025-26 presented by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on March 7, 2025, the following features which negate the claims made by critics have been found:
✅ Salaries of Imams Increased
While the budget does include a salary increase for Imams, it also extends similar benefits to Chief Grantis of the Sikh community and Jain priests, making it a broader policy for minorities rather than the sole measure to help Muslims alone.

✅ Community Halls for Minorities
The budget provision for community halls is meant for all minority communities, not just Muslims. This includes Christians, Jains, Buddhists, Sikhs, and Zoroastrians (Parsis).

✅ Self-Defense Training for Minority Girls
This initiative applies to girls studying in schools and colleges run by the Directorate of Minorities, which serves all minority communities—not just Muslims.

✅ ₹1,000 Crore for Minority Development
The budget allocates ₹1,000 crore for minority development as a whole, without specifying a particular religious group and not Muslims alone.

✅ Provisions for Hindu Temples
Contrary to claims that the budget only favors minorities, several initiatives support Hindu religious institutions:

• ₹199 crore allocated for the development of Sri Renuka Yallamma Temple and the Devika Rani Roerich Estate.
• Efforts to include Lakkundi Temple on the UNESCO World Heritage list.
• ₹328 crore allocated for removing temple encroachments and documenting assets.
• Annual tasdiq amount paid to priests of 25,551 temples will be increased from Rs.60,000 to Rs. 72,000.
• A new Karnataka Temples Accommodation Cell to be established.
• Salaries for government employees working in Hindu temples (previously paid from temple funds) will now be drawn from the state’s Consolidated Fund.
• Chandragutthi Development Authority to be set up to develop the village in Soraba taluka as a religious and tourist
  destination.

Hence, the claim that Muslims are major beneficiaries in Karnataka state budget 2025-26 is false.

Claim: Karnataka’s budget disproportionately favors Muslims with a tagline “Muslim League Budget”

Conclusion: Misleading. The budget allocations benefit all minority communities, besides providing substantial benefits for Hindu temples and pilgrimage centres as well.

Rating: Misleading —