Cong brass ordered new caste survey: K'taka CM

Hindustan Times

a day ago

The decision to conduct a caste re-enumeration in Karnataka was taken by the Congress high command and not the state cabinet, chief minister Siddaramaiah said on Wednesday, setting a timeline of 60-70 days to complete the exercise.
Accepting the earlier report 'in principle', Siddaramaiah said that there were some complaints regarding it as it has been 10 years since the survey was conducted.
'I am following the high command's directive. It is not my or the Cabinet's decision. It is not a decision of the government. It is a decision of the high command. The high command has asked for the re-enumeration and a re-survey to be carried out,' Siddaramaiah said.
'The high command said that some complaints have come because the survey had happened in 2015-16, it has almost been nine-ten years old. So in a short period, in about 60-70 days a re-enumeration will be done. We are not rejecting the entire report (given by the Backward Classes Commission). Principally the report is accepted, only re-enumeration will be done,' Siddaramaiah said.
Following a meeting of the Congress leadership on Tuesday, Siddaramaiah said that a fresh caste survey will be conducted to address complaints from several communities who alleged that they were either excluded or underrepresented in the controversial 2015 exercise.
The meeting came after weeks of discontent over the findings of the caste survey originally carried out in 2015 at a cost of ₹162 crore during Siddaramaiah's earlier tenure as chief minister. Several ministers, MLAs, and MPs had raised objections, citing that the data did not fully represent the diverse caste composition of the state.
Siddaramaiah, a key AHINDA (a Kannada acronym for Alpasankhyataru or minorities, Hindulidavaru or backward classes, and Dalitaru or Dalits) leader, pointed out that a number of stakeholders — including religious leaders, community organisations, and even members of his cabinet — had raised doubts about the comprehensiveness of the original report.
Criticism of the survey has intensified in the recent months, particularly from influential community groups. The Vokkaligas and Veerashaiva-Lingayats, Karnataka's two dominant communities, strongly objected to the findings, demanding that the report be scrapped and a fresh survey conducted.
Asked if he was disappointed with the party high command's directive for re-enumeration instead of acting on the report under the consideration of the cabinet, he said, 'We will go by the high command's decision. It is not my decision, it is not the decision of the cabinet or our government, it is a decision of the high command. High command has asked for re-enumeration.'
Addressing media in Kalaburagi, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said re-enumeration is essential as the data available is 10 years old.
'The criterias that were used in the earlier survey will remain, along with that if anything was left out it will be added. But the re-survey is essential because the data available is ten years old and in ten years many have come into OBC, many were added. So considering all these things a fresh survey has to be done, nothing other than that,' he said.
the Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes' survey report was placed before the cabinet for the first time on April 11. The Siddaramaiah-led Congress government (2013-2018) had in 2015 commissioned the survey in the state.
The State Backward Classes Commission, under its then chairperson H Kantharaju, was tasked with preparing a caste census report. The survey work was completed in 2018 towards the end of Siddaramaiah's first tenure as Chief Minister, and the report was finalised by Kantharaju's successor K Jayaprakash Hegde in February 2024.
Experts said that a fresh survey could help the Congress consolidate OBC votes.
'A caste census alone won't achieve much unless it's used as a tool to mobilise the OBCs, who have never come together as a unified group. In AHINDA, the loose link is the OBCs, Kurubas support the Congress because of Siddaramaiah, not necessarily due to any resentment towards the BJP,' said political analyst A Narayana.
Leader of Opposition in the state assembly R Ashoka said the move is an 'embarrassment' and 'defeat' for CM Siddaramaiah, while it is a political win for deputy CM DK Shivakumar. 'We had all opposed this report. The Congress High Command also felt that this report was not right. The High Command has given a slap in the face to Siddaramaiah. Despite the CM's insistence that he would implement the report no matter what, he has now gone back on his words, so it would be appropriate for him to resign. ₹160 crore has been wasted, and they don't have the funds to conduct another survey. They must answer for this,' he said.
BJP leader N Ravi Kumar alleged that the Congress high command and its top leader Rahul Gandhi were never in agreement with Siddaramaiah's caste census right from the beginning. 'In fact, Rahul Gandhi had urged the Centre to consider Telangana's example as a model while taking up the caste census. He would have mentioned Karnataka's caste census as the model if he had faith in it,' the BJP MLC argued.