Have not opposed caste census, says Shivakumar after Kharge’s charge
Karnataka DCM DK Shivakumar on Tuesday said he is not opposed to the state’s caste survey but wants it to be done in a scientific and systematic manner.
Karnataka deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar on Tuesday said he is not opposed to the state’s caste survey but wants it to be done in a scientific and systematic manner, in a clarification that came amid deep divisions within the ruling Congress on the subject and a day after party president Mallikarjun Kharge criticised the former’s stand on the caste census issue in Parliament.
During a discussion in the Rajya Sabha on Monday on two bills pertaining to Jammu and Kashmir, Kharge took exception to Shivakumar’s opposition to making public the findings of the Karnataka’s caste survey commissioned in 2015 by the previous Siddaramaiah-led government. When BJP lawmakers sought to know from Kharge as to why his party’s government has not yet published the caste census report, he alleged: “All upper castes are united on this.”
Senior BJP lawmakers Sushil Kumar Modi and parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi pointed out Shivakumar has signed a petition to not make the report public. Joshi also noted that several other Congress MLAs and Veerashaiva Mahasabha leaders have opposed it as well.
“Our deputy CM is against it, and they (BJP) are also doing it,” Kharge alleged. “Upper castes all unite internally, and then they make accusations against others. You are also on this and so is he (Shivakumar).”
Shivakumar, however, on Tuesday clarified he was not opposed to the caste census, saying he fully endorse the Congress party’s commitment towards all section of the society. “I have not opposed it anywhere. We want a proper caste census done in a systematic way,” he told reporters in Belagavi.
He also pointed out that his own house was not covered in the social and educational survey, popularly known as caste survey, in the state. “No one came and asked me. I also checked with so many legislators.”
The groundwork for the caste census was laid during Siddaramaiah’s previous tenure as chief minister (2013-18), involving an extensive survey commissioned in 2015 at an estimated cost of ₹162 crore.
The Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes under its then chairperson H Kantharaju was tasked with preparing a caste census report. The survey work was completed in 2018, towards the end of Siddaramaiah’s first tenure as CM.
The backward classes commission, under its current chairman K Jayaprakash Hegde, has been given time till January 31, 2024 to submit the report to the government.
“The biggest problem was that the secretary of the Backward Classes Commission had not signed the report. Whether the report (without signature) will be valid or not is the big question,” Shivakumar said. “I think the new chairman who has been given the responsibility will rectify the mistakes.”
A schism has surfaced within the Karnataka Congress regarding the release of the survey findings, with chief minister Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar being at odds, issuing conflicting statements on the release of the report. While the CM has said a decision will be taken once he receives the report, Shivakumar, who is also the state Congress chief, has advocated for a re-conduct of the caste survey.
Vokkaliags and Lingayats — Karnataka’s two dominant communities — have opposed the 2015 survey, calling it “unscientific” and have demanded that a fresh survey be conducted. The survey, parts of which were leaked ahead of the 2018 assembly polls, allegedly dispute the numerical strength of Lingayats and Vokkaligas.
Shivakumar, who is from the Vokkaliga community, was a signatory, along with few other ministers, to a memorandum submitted by the community to the chief minister, requesting to reject the report along with the data.