Lingayats and Vokkaligas want implementation of ‘caste census’ put on hold till enumeration by Union govt.

The Union government’s announcement of a caste census along with the upcoming general census seems to have come as a handle for the influential Veerashaiva-Lingayat and Vokkaliga communities that have been disputing their population numbers in the Socio-Economic and Educational Survey, done by the Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes, and opposing the implementation of its report.

The Akhila Bharatha Veerashaiva Mahasabha and the Vokkaligara Sangha, which are demanding a resurvey rejecting the 2015 report as “unscientific”, are now arguing that the State government should wait for the Union government’s caste census to conclude.

To the backburner?

This may play a key role again in pushing to the backburner the implementation of the 2015 survey report in Karnataka, even as the report was tabled in the State Cabinet a decade after the survey, multiple sources in the State government said. Data from the caste census and the general census may take at least another three-four years to be available. 

“We believe a national census will provide a realistic picture of our community. The State government should wait for the national caste census,” said H.M. Renuka Prasanna, secretary, Akhila Bharatha Veerashaiva Mahasabha.

Meanwhile, B. Kenchappa Gowda, president, Vokkaligara Sangha, said that the caste census by the Union government is an opportunity to “set right injustice” done to some communities in the State survey. The 2015 survey pegs the population of Veerashaiva-Lingayats at 11% and of Vokkaligas at 10.29% of the State’s population, even as they claim to be much larger communities. 

When quizzed over the future of Karnataka’s caste survey, in light of the Union government announcing a caste census, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was non-committal on Thursday. “The report has been tabled in the State Cabinet and I have asked all Ministers to give their opinion in writing. Once the Ministers come back, we will further discuss the issue,” he said. 

Matter of political will

A senior Minister in the State said that if there was political will, the reservation matrix could be revised based on the Karnataka’s survey, as all communities, including Veerashaiva-Lingayats and Vokkaligas, would benefit from the same. This should come with a promise to revise the matrix if the national caste census throws up different proportions of population of any community in the State. However, there was a “trust deficit” created regarding the survey being exploited to political ends in the two influential communities.

However, former members of the Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes have argued that the proposed national caste census and Karnataka’s survey are distinct. “We do not know whether the national caste census will include a socio-economic educational survey. The commission carried out the survey to identify backwardness of communities and not just numbers,” said K.N. Lingappa, a former member of the commission.