Amid clamour to publicise the Socio-Economic and Education Survey (popularly called Caste Census) conducted by the Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes in 2015-2016, dominant caste groups are coming together to oppose the report, which is likely to be submitted in November this year. The report, even if submitted in November, according to government sources, is unlikely to be made public before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Commission Chairman Jayaprakash Hegde, whose tenure is set to end in November, told The Hindu that the commission will submit the report by November end, and that the final work on the report is currently under way. “All the data is ready and the preparation of a report/synopsis is currently being done. The report will be submitted in the end of November,” he said.
Mounting pressure
Pressure is mounting on the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government to accept the census report after the Bihar government publicised similar data. The Congress is demanding a similar nation-wide exercise.
However, while a top government source said that it is unlikely that the report will be published before the Parliamentary polls, the two dominant land owning caste groups — Lingayats/ Veerashaivas and Vokkaligas whose population according to the leaked data is pegged at 14% and 11%, respectively — are opposed to it. The commission, then led by H. Kantharaj, had conducted the survey in 2015-16. The two communities claim that their numbers are far higher than what the leaked data from the report indicated.
The government had spent ₹162 crore on the census exercise. Mr. Siddaramaiah himself on multiple occasions before and soon after Assembly elections announced that his government will accept the report. While the report was ready around the end of Mr. Siddaramaiah’s previous tenure in 2018, three Chief Ministers since then – H.D. Kumaraswamy, B.S. Yediyurappa and Basavaraj Bommai – had stayed away from accepting the report that is likely to churn political alignments in the State.
Bringing pressure on the government, senior Congress leader B.K. Hariprasad, who is learnt to be disgruntled after being ignored for the Cabinet berth, on Tuesday said, “Our leader Rahul Gandhi has raised voice on the injustice meted out to Backward Classes. Karnataka – like Bihar – should show the heart to release the census report that is ready.”
Joint meeting shortly
Meanwhile, a joint meeting of representatives from Akhila Bharatha Veerashaiava Mahasabha and Vokkaliga Misalathi (Reservation) Horata Samithi, backed by the four seers of the community and Vokkaliga Sangha, is set to meet shortly. The government is also under pressure from legislators and Ministers from the two dominant communities to not act on the report as it could undermine the pivotal places the communities have held in Karnataka’s politics.
Veerashaiva Mahasabha Secretary H.M. Renuka Prasanna said that the meeting of Central and State committee office-bearers in Davangere on October 6 will discuss the census issue. “The Mahasabha and the Vokkaliga Horata Samithi had held three joint meetings in 2016 after which a joint memorandum had been submitted to the government against the census. How can the community numbers go down in 2015 in comparison with data collected by Chinnappa Reddy and Havanur Commissions,” he asked.
Echoing similar sentiments, Horata Samithi president G.N. Srikantaiah said that they had written to the government to reject the report. “The enumerators did not go door to door. The census has tried to divide the community by counting people under 45 different sub-castes. We are not opposed to a new census if done scientifically,” he said. The samithi has been demanding that the legislators and Ministers from the community speak up against the report, he added.
