The All India Congress Committee (AICC) on Tuesday (10th June), scrapped the Karnataka government’s caste census which was to be tabled two days later on 12th June before the state cabinet. Concurring with Deputy CM D.K. Shivakumar, the AICC asked the Siddaramaiah government to conduct a fresh caste survey in the state based on the ‘Telangana Model’.
Following the AICC meeting in Delhi, Deputy CM D.K. Shivakumar said that the caste census will be conducted afresh in a “very transparent manner”. “A fresh survey (enumeration) will be carried out now to clear the air over the earlier caste census with respect to its data accuracy and concerns raised over under-representation of certain communities. Data will be collected once again through door-to-door and online surveys. The entire process would be done in a very transparent manner,โ said Shivakumar. He added that this time, when the fresh caste census is conducted, everyone will be taken into confidence.
The controversial caste census, which was conducted a decade ago, in 2015, during the earlier term of Siddaramaiah, has been the cause of infighting within the Congress government in the state. While CM Siddaramaiah, hailing from the backward Kuruba community, has been pushing forward the caste survey, Deputy CM Shivakumar, belonging to the OBC Vokkaliga community, has been demanding the survey to be reconducted purportedly to dispel the suspicion being raised on its sanctity.
The survey drew strong criticism from the dominant caste groups in the state such as the Vokkaligas and the Lingayats, which questioned the scientific basis of the survey and claimed that their numbers have been distorted to show a decline in their population. However, the state’s backward communities, including the Kurubas, have been calling for the immediate implementation of the survey report. Several leaders in the Congress party, including veteran Congress leader and former Chief Minister of Karnataka, Veerappa Moily, expressed apprehensions of polarisation resulting from the survey report and called for a fresh caste survey.
The survey report made several contentious recommendations like increasing OBC reservation from 32% to 51%, raising the EWS reservation from 10% to 24%. If the recommendations of the survey report were implemented, the net reservation in the state would stand at 85%. Furthermore, it categorised the relatively well-off community of Kurubas (to which CM Siddaramaiah belongs) as the โmost backward.โ
The Karnataka government spent โน175 crore on the survey
The Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes (KSCBC), headed by H. Kantharaj, conducted the caste census in 2015 and submitted its report to CM Siddaramaiah in 2018. The Karnataka government spent a whopping โน175 crore on the survey, which has now been reduced to garbage. Interestingly, the original survey report submitted by the KSCBC, was somehow mysteriously ‘lost’ by state government, after which, a revised report by submitted by K Jayaprakash Hegde in 2023.
How Congress government splurges on freebies
The scrapping of the Karnataka caste survey shows how the taxpayers’ money under the Congress regimes is either splurged on freebies or on government incompetence. The Congress government in Karnataka has been squandering freebies under its five guarantee schemes, viz. Griha Jyothi, Griha Lakshmi, Anna Bhagya, Shakti Yojana, and Yuva Nidhi. The freebie schemes intended to lure party’s voters, have increased the burden of the taxpayers and have exhausted the public exchequer.
The Karnataka government’s freebie schemes have pushed the state into a financial crisis. In July last year, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiahโs financial advisor, Basavaraj Rayareddy, admitted that the state lacked funds for development projects due to guarantee schemes. The crisis arose as enormous amounts of funds had to be set aside for Congressโ freebies.
Similalry, due to freebie schemes implemented by the Congress government in Himachal Pradesh, led by Chief Minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu, has left the state’s economy in shambles.
Rahul Gandhi cast aspersions on the Centre regarding a caste census
The development has come as a major embarrassment for Congress scion Rahul Gandhi, who recently cast aspersions on the BJP government at the Centre regarding the conduct of a national caste survey. Earlier this month, Rahul Gandhi claimed that the Modi government would never conduct a caste census properly in 2027 because it would destroy its politics while promising that he would get it done. “Do not be mistaken. They (the BJP) will never get the real caste census done in the country because it will destroy their politics. I feel they will not do it properly in 2027. Either the BJP should get it conducted properly or I promise to get it done,” Gandhi said.
Rahul Gandhi’s boastful claims of getting the national caste census done in a better manner compared to BJP fell flat as his own party’s government in Karnataka, which had a real chance of conducting the state caste census, messed it up badly due to infighting, incompetence and vote bank politics which possibly compelled his party’s high command to scrap the caste census.
Possible reasons for scrapping the state caste census
The most plausible reason for scrapping the caste census appears to be that its findings did not align with the Congress partyโs pre-determined narrative of social justice. Perhaps, one would be inclined to believe that these assumptions were debunked by the Karnataka caste census, which is why Congress govt in the state junked an exercise that cost over โน170 crores to the public exchequer.
When a party fails to execute a basic caste enumeration exercise in a single state where it holds full power, how can it be trusted to carry out a complex, nationwide caste census? Rahul Gandhiโs recent allegations against the central government seem, like many of his past claims, to be politically motivated jabs with little factual grounding. Before pointing fingers at others, he would do well to set his own house in order โ starting by providing clarity to his party leadership on what exactly he expects from a caste census, and ensuring that state units like Karnataka donโt fumble such crucial initiatives again.
This is not the first time that Gandhi has made baseless claims, he is actually quite habital of randomly throwing around arbitrary numbers. Last year, Gandhi’s statement backfired after he said that his party would conduct a wealth redistribution claiming that around 90% of the country’s wealth was controlled by a small minority. Following the major backlash for his unfounded remarks, Gandhi later retracted from his statement.
