BJP demands special legislature session to discuss Karnataka caste census report

Bengaluru: The Opposition BJP on Friday dared Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to make public findings of the caste census by convening a special legislature session immediately.

In a statement, BJP general secretary and former minister V Sunil Kumar  questioned why did Chief Minister Siddaramaiah accept the report on the last day of the budget session.

“I feel that the Congress is running away from the debate on the caste census report. If the party was committed, it would have tabled the report soon after the Governor’s address and initiated a discussion on the findings of the report. Instead, the chief minister chose to accept the report on the last day of session. Therefore, he must take steps to convene a special legislature session only to deliberate on the report and make the findings public,” Kumar said.

Meanwhile, former chief minister Basavaraj Bommai told reporters that there are several questions surrounding the report and therefore it needs to be made public and deliberated in length. 

"According to leaked findings, there are 70 lakh Muslims in the state. Their number is higher than some of the major communities. It means they’re no longer a minority. Will the government remove the minority tag for Muslims?" Bommai questioned. 

Bommai said that the report was prepared by one person and submitted by another, and the CM accepted it amid the opposition by a section of his Cabinet colleagues.

“This clearly shows that there is no unity in the Cabinet on the report in question.  The Congress is playing a double game even in caste census,” he charged and warned that it was not wise to play such double games with the oppressed classes and create unrest in the society. 

Bommai clarified that BJP was not opposed to the caste census per se as several castes need to be uplifted based on the population, social and economic conditions. “BJP is committed to social justice.  For this very reason the previous BJP government had increased the reservation for the SCs/STs. We are totally in favour of the microscopic minority in backward classes getting the benefit of reservation and other facilities,” he said.