As tug-of-war over the demand for a nationwide caste census redraws the battlelines for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the Congress party finds itself in a tight spot in Karnataka. The Siddaramaiah government is in a fix over making a 2016 socio-economic (caste) survey public after facing stiff resistance from senior leaders including deputy chief minister D.K. Shivakumar and Shamanur Shivashankarappa who belong to the dominant Vokkaliga and Lingayat community respectively.
Chief Minister Siddarmaiah who has championed the cause of the “Ahinda” (minorities, backward classes and dalits), the traditional votebank of the Congress is keen to adopt the caste survey which he claims is under “revision”. However, his cabinet colleagues have been opposing the report fearing it might dispel popular myths and end or alter the political dominance of some communities as the numerical strength of a community defines its political clout and gives the community leaders the bargaining for power within the party hierarchy too.
In 2015, Siddaramaiah (during his first tenure as the CM) had ordered the caste census to assess the socio-economic and educational backwardness of all communities. A committee headed by then Backward Classes commission H. Kantharaju carried out the survey at a cost of around Rs 160 crore. While the report was ready by 2016, it was put in cold storage by subsequent governments. Again in 2020, the BJP government appointed Jayaprakash Hegde as the Commission chief but the report was not made public. This time, the Siddaramaiah government has assured the OBC and SC/ST communities that it would make the caste census data public and also take “affirmative action” to empower the marginalised communities.
Siddaramaiah’s enthusiasm to accept the report has seen a pushback from many of his cabinet colleagues who have demanded stalling of he report claiming it is “flawed”.
While Shivakumar categorically dismissed supporting the tabling of the report calling it “unscientific”. He openly endorsed the views of the Karnataka Vokkaligara Sangha in its 17-page petition opposing the report. The Sangha pointed out that the report was incomplete as it claims to have covered 5.4 crore population of the state and Karnataka’s official number stands at 6.4 crore. “Accepting the report will be an injustice towards Vokkaliga community,” stated the Sangha.
Interestingly Shivakumar signed the petition along with Vokkaliga leaders from other political parties including former prime minister H.D. Devegowda, leader of opposition in Assembly R. Ashok, former chief minister S.M. Krishna and Union minister Shobha Karandlaje.
The Congress is now a divided house. While Rahul Gandhi made the caste census a major political plank in the recently concluded five-state with the slogan ‘Jitni Abaadi, utna haq’, AICC chief Mallikarjun Kharge was corned by the BJP in the Rajya Sabha over Shivakumar opposing the release of the census data in Karnataka. An embarrassed Kharge had said the party was committed to the advocacy of OBC rights and lamented that the “BJP and Shivakumar were opposed to the census”. The “upper castes are united over this” Kharge had remarked.
Shivakumar dismissed Kharge’s claims and said he believed in the economic survey. “I fully endorse the party’s commitment towards all communities. But the state census report is invalid as it has not been signed by the committee secretary. I am in favour of a proper census which is done in a systematic way,” said Shivakumar.
Taking the cue, Lingayat leaders from the Congress—Shamanur Shivashankarappa (president of All India Veerashaiva Mahasabha), minister M.B. Patil and Eshwar Khandre—reiterated that they reject the Kantharaju commission findings as it was not carried out “scientifically. The Lingayat community suspects the report has undercounted its population and it might lead to major political ramifications.
The Mahasabha has submitted a petition signed by 33 elected representatives from across all political parties and hopes to pass a resolution opposing the report during a two-day national convention to be held at Davangere from December 24.
Meanwhile, the “Ahinda” community leaders are planning a mega convention in Chitradurga to counter the dominant castes and reiterate their demand seeking the release of the report. The move is also seen as a “show of strength” by the Ahinda block that is backing Siddaramaiah as the chief minister for a full term amid the ongoing power tussle within the Congress party.
