Karnataka: After Hindi belt battering, Cong govt shelves caste survey

Karnataka’s ruling Congress party, which until recently was threatening to implement a caste survey, has lost all enthusiasm for it after the battering it got in the Hindi-heartland states last month.

The Karnataka government, headed by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, has decided to bury the caste report prepared some years ago in the state, at least until the Lok Sabha elections due in a few months are done.

The reason? Congress strategists were of the opinion until a month ago that the promise of a caste census across the country, Karnataka included, will turn out to be a game changer in the elections.

Electoral lesson

But after losing power in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and after failing to unseat the BJP in Madhya Pradesh, the Congress seems to have realised the limitations of the caste card.

In any case, the two politically dominant communities in Karnataka — the Lingayats and Vokkaligas — are bitterly opposed to the caste census report, and implementing it now will hurt the Congress in the general elections.

Congress goes mum

Congress leaders say they are not going to even talk about a caste census until the parliamentary elections get over, probably in April-May.

After the recent Assembly elections results, the Congress strategy team led by Sunil Kanugolu, a political adviser to chief minister Siddaramaiah, asked the Congress not to go for the caste census at least for now.

Siddaramaiah, who was very much interested in accepting the report, seems to have been convinced by the advice.

Karnataka survey

The acceptance or implementation of the Social, Educational and Economic Survey in Karnataka, popularly known as the caste census, came to the fore after Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar unveiled a caste survey in his state.

The Karnataka report itself was prepared by the H Kantharaj Commission in the previous Siddaramaiah government in 2015-18. However, critics say the report, as it exists, is faulty.

Missing report

Also, a controversy erupted when it was known that the original copy of the caste survey had gone missing (this was first reported in The Federal), triggering a debate over the legality of the report.

Scanned and certified copies do exist but these are not authorised versions and hence cannot be accepted by the government.

The Commission, now headed by Chairman K Jayaprakash Hegde, is preparing a new report based on the same data, secured from the systems maintained by Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL). This too has raised eyebrows.

Lok Sabha battle

A minister in the Siddaramaiah Cabinet, who belongs to the OBC community but did not want to be named, told The Federal that the government will go for a caste census after the Lok Sabha battle.

Another worry is that the issue of giving reservations under Category 2 of Backward Classes to the Panchamasalis (a subsect that makes up around 60 per cent of the Lingayats) will be raised if the government takes further steps on the caste census.

The government doesn't want anything to derail the Congress desperation to outdo the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections.

Siddaramaiah confident

At the same time, Siddaramaiah has convinced his party bosses that the Congress can face the coming elections on the strength of the five guarantees it gave to the voters before the May 2023 Assembly elections and which are now being implemented.

"The caste census will only spoil the mood of voters if it is accepted or implemented now" — this message has been conveyed to the party leadership in New Delhi.