Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.
Credit: PTI File Photo
Bengaluru: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will have to justify to his Cabinet on Thursday the need to count castes afresh, a decision being seen as a win for his deputy D K Shivakumar.
A special meeting of the Cabinet is expected to finalise the modalities of a fresh caste survey, which could make the 2015 enumeration redundant.
Siddaramaiah was consistently defending the 2015 Social & Educational Survey despite opposition from various communities, including the ‘dominant’ Lingayats and Vokkaligas. The CM maintained that the survey was done scientifically.
Shivakumar, a Vokkaliga, had signed a petition addressed to Siddaramaiah in November 2023, asking the government to junk the 2015 survey.
The Congress high command’s prod towards re-enumeration has come as a relief to a section of lawmakers - even those on Siddaramaiah’s side -- who were struggling to take a public position on the controversial 2015 survey.
A senior minister identified as a Siddaramaiah loyalist had told DH in April that the government would be better off by doing a recount of castes.
“We really don’t know how this 2015 survey report would impact Congress in the next election,” this wary minister had said.
Politically, the decision to count castes again is being seen as a setback to Siddaramaiah.
The CM’s economic advisor Basavaraj Rayareddi, a Lingayat, disagreed with this view.
“I was among the first Lingayat leaders to say that the report must be implemented,” he said.
“When the Constitution can be amended, can’t we amend the report if there are shortcomings?”
Rayareddi, however, conceded that there were problems with the 2015 report.
“Among Veerashaiva-Lingayats, there are Reddys, Kooda Vokkaligas, Ganigas, Banajigas and Sadars. There are other Reddys, Sadars et al. But they did not write the correct nomenclature during the survey,” he explained.
Senior Congress leader B K Hariprasad said the government must have clear terms of reference for the new survey, so that it doesn’t run into rough weather like the earlier one.
“Capturing the social, educational, economic and political status of communities can’t be done in 60 days. The SCs, STs, OBCs and minorities are keenly watching this,” he said.
Aadhaar-linked survey?
The Cabinet may discuss the use of Aadhaar during re-enumeration of castes to make it a fool-proof exercise. “As far as I know and this is what I’ve suggested citizens will be asked to provide their Aadhaar numbers. There’ll be no doubts about the survey if Aadhaar is used” Rayareddi said.