Caste survey report puts Siddaramaiah in a fix
Leaders from Congress to dominant Lingayat and Vokkaliga communities questioned the caste survey submitted to the CM on Thursday
Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah appears to have opened a Pandora’s box by finally accepting the socio-economic and education survey, generally known as caste survey report, as leaders from his own party belonging to dominant Lingayat and Vokkaliga communities questioned the caste survey submitted to the CM on Thursday.
Karnataka State Permanent Backward Classes Commission chairman K Jayaprakash Hegde submitted a voluminous report on the caste survey in Bengaluru. Accepting the report Siddaramaiah said the report will be discussed in the next cabinet meeting, which usually meets every Thursday.
The report has not been put in the public domain. But some data leaked in 2018, which is unverified, has brought down the numerical strength of the Lingayats and Vokkaligas with the Dalits on the top followed by the Muslim community.
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Major and medium industries minister MB Patil, a Lingayat, said, it is true that there is a lot of concerns in Veerashaiva Lingayat community about the caste survey report. This is because many people have provided the names of their sub-castes.
“We have said that all sub-castes of Veerashaiva- Lingayats must be recorded as Veerashaiva Lingayats,” Patil said.
Another Lingayat minister in charge of women and child development, Laxmi Hebbalkar said, “Door-to-door survey was not conducted. They didn’t go to my relatives’ houses for data collection. There are confusions in the caste survey. However, politics should not be played over the caste survey, and all communities should get equal opportunities.”
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It’s not just the Lingayats, but the Vokkaligas are also sceptical about the data in the report.
Deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar, who represents the Vokkaliga community, was a signatory to a petition submitted by the Vokkaliga community to Siddaramaiah in November 2023.
“Politics is different, but we want our community’s self-respect to be protected. I have to wear the community hat too. The MLAs and community leaders feel that the survey wasn’t done properly. It must be done scientifically.”
However, in December 2023, he clarified that he was not opposed to the report after the All India Congress Committee (AICC) president Mallikarjun M Kharge rapped him on the floor of the Rajya Sabha during a debate saying, “All upper castes are united to oppose the caste survey.”
At a convention of backward classes in Chitradurga on January 24, Shivakumar said the state government is committed to the caste survey report to provide justice to the oppressed classes.
According to a Congress functionary, Siddaramaiah should not have accepted the report.
“He accepted the report following pressure from the backward classes, but there will be a backlash from the Lingayats and Vokkaligas, who stood by the Congress in the Assembly polls in 2023 if it is made public,’’ the functionary said.
The opposition parties have also urged the state government to conduct a fresh survey as they claim that the report is flawed and unscientific.
Former chief minister Basavaraj Bommai said, “In the current report, some sub-castes have been separated from the main castes and vice versa in the case of other castes. The state government must clarify its stand on the report. There must be a public debate on the report. The BJP was not against the backward classes but justice must be done to all based on the population. The report must not be used for politics in the coming Lok Sabha elections.”
Panchamasali (sub sect in the Lingayats) seer, Basava Jaya Mrityunjaya, who has been demanding that his community be placed in the 2(A) reservation category from the present 3 (B) as the share for opportunities in education and government jobs is higher said, “The caste survey was completed in 2018 after which the pandemic changed the socio-economic status of many. The present caste survey report is a deliberate attempt to reduce the numerical strength of the Lingayats, he said.
Retired Prof Veerabhadraiah, a Panchamsali Lingayat said the report is being opposed on the ground that it is a decade old one. If the numerical strength of the Lingayats goes down then their bargaining power for representation in the cabinet and for tickets in elections also decreases.
“The idea to have a study done on the economic and social backwardness of all castes struck me after the Supreme court’s ruling on Mandal commission in 1992. I got an opportunity to make an announcement of a caste based survey in my budget presentation for 2004-2005. But in July 2005, I was dismissed as deputy CM in the JD(S)-BJP coalition government and could execute it after becoming the CM in 2013,’’ he had said on the floor of the Legislative Assembly.
The issue got a fillip with the Congress at the national level and its leader Rahul Gandhi making a strong pitch for ’Jitni Abaadi, Utna Haq’ (greater the population, greater the rights) and promising to undertake caste survey.