Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah on Wednesday refuted allegations that the caste census he commissioned when he was chief minister was meant to undermine the Vokkaliga and Veerashaiva-Lingayat communities.
“That question doesn’t arise,” Siddaramaiah said. He was responding to concerns raised by a section of Vokkaliga and Veerashaiva-Lingayat leaders that the caste census was an attempt to show them as castes that are not as dominant.
“The census was done to assess social, economic and educational status of all castes. To do social justice, we need documentation. That’s why it was done. There was no malafide intention. It wasn’t against any caste or community,” Siddaramaiah said.
He maintained that the caste census was not ready when he was in power. “It was ready when the Congress-JD(S) coalition was in power, but the then chief minister H D Kumaraswamy refused to accept the report,” he said.
The Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes spent Rs 170 crore on the census, which is still under wraps. Kumaraswamy, in a series of tweets aimed at Siddaramaiah, refuted his claims. “The Kantharaj Commission’s report was ready when he was in power. Why wasn’t it accepted and released then? Why this display of extreme intelligence that people can see through?” he said.
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(Published 08 September 2021, 19:07 IST)
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