BJP's Tejasvi Surya announces boycott of Karnataka's Social & Educational Survey

Bengaluru: Bangalore South BJP MP Tejasvi Surya on Saturday announced that he will not participate in the Social & Educational Survey and urged citizens to boycott the exercise.

The survey, also known as caste census, started on September 22 and is scheduled to end October 7.

“I am not participating in this. Will this government keep my data safe? For what purpose will this data be used and with what political malintent? I don’t trust this government,” Surya, a Brahmin, said.

“This caste census is Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s attempt to become a Lalu Prasad Yadav or Mulayam Singh Yadav of Karnataka. He wants to pit one caste against another,” Surya charged.

Surya recalled that the Karnataka High Court on Thursday made it clear that it was not compulsory for citizens to participate in the survey.

“When the High Court has made it clear that citizens needn’t participate, I appeal to people...this so-called survey is being done just for political mileage. This (survey) won’t help any caste or the poor. So, please, boycott this caste census, or this Siddaramaiah census. The High Court has allowed us to do that,” Surya said.

It is possible that other BJP leaders may adopt a similar non-cooperative stance towards the survey, sources said.

On Thursday, the High Court declined to stop the survey. However, a division bench of Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice CM Joshi directed the Karnataka Backward Classes Commission to ensure that the collected data is protected and to tell citizens that participation in the survey is voluntary.

“We will carry out the survey as per the court’s directive. The survey has covered 10 lakh people so far,” Siddaramaiah told reporters.

Following the High Court's directive, the Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes issued a statement making it clear that participation in the survey is not compulsory. "Though the survey envisages to cover the entire populace of the state, it is hereby clarified that the participation by citizens/households is voluntary and there is no compulsion on their part to disclose information," it stated.

By Saturday evening, 12.87 lakh households were covered. On Saturday alone, enumerators covered 8.18 lakh households. There are 1.43 crore households in the state.