R Ashoka
Credit: PTI File Photo
Bengaluru: The Congress government’s decision reordering a fresh Socio-Economic and Educational Survey – Caste Census – drew a sharp response from the BJP, which dubbed the move a diversionary tactic employed by Chief Siddaramaiah to deflect attention from the controversy surrounding the stampede at M Chinnaswamy Stadium.
The Congress high command’s directions to conduct a fresh survey effectively rendered the Kantharaju Commission’s report, compiled at a cost of Rs 167 crore, redundant, pointed out the BJP. The saffron party said that the high command’s decision had embarrassed Siddaramaiah, while elevating Deputy CM D K Shivakumar’s profile within the party.
The BJP called on the Congress government to explain how the fresh survey would be conducted, besides demanding specific answers on the measures taken to ensure mistakes conducted during the first survey were not repeated. The saffron party also emphasised the need for broad public consultation and clear communication.
Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Assembly R Ashoka dubbed the high command’s direction a ‘slap in Siddaramaiah’s face’. “Although he repeatedly claimed that the caste census report would be implemented, the CM has now succumbed to pressure from New Delhi,” Ashoka told journalists in Bengaluru.
Accusing the CM of not listening to the people, heads of religious institutions, Ashoka wrote on ‘X’: “Is a decision sacred only when it is taken by the high command?”
The LoP also expressed reservations over the government’s commitment to completing the fresh survey in 90 days. Ashoka also dubbed the money spent on the first Caste Census report a ‘colossal’ waste of taxpayers’ money. Calling on the Congress government to defer the exercise till the completion of the current academic year, Ashoka said, “If the government is in the earnest, it must plan this exercise carefully.”
Likening the ‘Caste Census’ saga to a ‘mega serial’, Ashoka said that the issue was brought back into public discourse every time the Siddaramaiah government was questioned on other pressing problems. “When the Centre has declared that enumeration of castes will be integrated into the Census exercise, why should the state order a separate survey,” he asked.
Ashoka’s counterpart in the Council Chalavadi Narayanaswamy, meanwhile, said that the BJP would continue to press for both Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar’s resignation. BJP general secretary V Sunil Kumar, meanwhile, accused the CM of using erroneous data compiled in the first Caste Census to mislead the state’s public.