Meet of Vokkaliga seers, leaders tomorrow to oppose Karnataka's caste census

Bengaluru: Reviving its campaign against the contentious caste census report, the Rajya Vokkaligara Sangha announced on Friday that a meeting of seers and all-party political leaders of their community would be held on January 12 to urge the state government not to implement the report.

“On the 12th, all Vokkaliga seers, 35 members of the executive committee and Vokkaliga leaders cutting across party barriers will participate in the meeting. We will discuss opposing this injustice,” said B Kenchappa Gowda, the Sangha’s president.

The caste census is a politically polarising issue, as the dominant Lingayat and Vokkaliga communities accuse the current report of being “inaccurate,” while marginalised communities have favoured it. 

Articulating the Sangha’s differences with the report, Gowda accused the then Kantharaj-led Backward Classes Commission of “undercounting” and not surveying around 40% of the Vokkaliga households, alongside not considering some sub-castes of Vokkaligas. 

As per the Sangha’s calculations, Vokkaligas total to 1-1.2 crore of the state’s population. 

“As per Aaadhaar card details, the state’s population exceeds 7 crore but the report considers it to be 5.98 crore. To which communities do these extra one crore-odd people belong? Also, as per Section 9(2) and 11 of the Karnataka Backward Classes Commission Act, 1995, there should be a caste census every 10 years. Since this survey was conducted in 2014-15, it has crossed expiry, and we need a new report.”

In a press note, the Sangha also alleged that the report did not contain the signature of the then-member secretary.

The Sangha president noted that after the meeting on the 12th, they would soon conduct a joint press conference with the All India Veerashaiva Mahasabha. 

Clarifying that the Sangha was not against the idea of caste census but only opposed the current “unscientific” report, an office-bearer noted that any new survey must include geotagging. 

Meanwhile, Home Minister G Parameshwara told reporters that though the agenda for the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) on January 13 was yet to be fixed, there was a possibility of discussing implementation of the Caste Census report.