Lingayats, Vokkaligas to urge CM Siddaramaiah to drop caste census

Bengaluru: The Lingayat and Vokkaliga communities, whose political dominance stands threatened by the numbers in the socio-economic and educational survey (caste census), have decided to urge the government not to proceed with the contentious report in the upcoming Cabinet on April 17.

The data from the caste census report pegs the population of the Lingayat community, across 95 sub-communities, at 66.35 lakh (11 per cent). For the Vokkaliga community, the population has been estimated at 61.58 lakh (10.29 per cent) across 48 sub-communities.

The 3A category comprising Vokkaligas, Balijas, Kodavas and other communities, has a total population of 72.99 lakh. The 3B category, which comprises Lingayats, Christians, Bunts and other communities, is estimated to have a population of 81.37 lakh.

For the two communities that have hitherto dominated Karnataka politics,
the numbers are a threat to their political hegemony since the Lingayats and Vokkaligas stand in third and fourth position, respectively, behind SCs (18.2 per cent) and Muslims (12.58 per cent)

Kenchappa Gowda, the Rajya Vokkaligara Sangha President, said the figures were unacceptable. 

“We have 114 sub-castes and not 48 amongst Vokkaligas and our population is certainly much higher than 61 lakh. I have called a meeting of the executive committee on Tuesday, where we will discuss the issue based on the data we have. We will certainly win if we wage a legal battle,” he added.

Former DG-IGP and All India Veerashaiva Mahasabha state president  Shankar Bidari also took exception to the caste census figures.

“All the sub-castes in the Sanatana Dharma are there amongst Veerashaiva Lingayats too as people from all communities became Lingayats. When the Chinnappa Reddy Commission projected our figures to be around 17 per cent, how can our figures suddenly drop to 11 per cent? We are not against the idea of the census but we need a fresh survey.”

Bidari said the Mahasabha would conduct a meeting on Tuesday, after which they would provide their findings to Forest Minister and the Mahasabha’s general secretary Eshwar Khandre. 

“He (Khandre) will urge Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and the Cabinet to take an appropriate decision,” the former DG-IGP added.  

Other communities

As per the report, the Kuruba community, with a 42.81 lakh population (7.3 per cent), emerges as the biggest amongst all communities in the 2A category. In the 1A category, the Uppara community, with a population of 7.58 lakh (1.26 per cent) has the superior numerical strength.