By Kavita Mistry 
Bengaluru: Leaked findings of the 2015 “caste census” in Karnataka threaten the dominant status enjoyed by the Lingayats and Vokkaligas in the state, fuelling tensions between leaders of the communities and the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government.
The Karnataka State Vokkaligara Sangha Tuesday threatened statewide agitations, while the Veerashaiva Lingayats have proposed to carry out their own survey in a bid to pile pressure on the government not to implement the census report.
According to the findings of the survey, the total population of Vokkaligas in Karnataka is 61.6 lakh or 10.3 percent. Lingayats are 66.3 lakh or 11 percent of the total population. These numbers are much lower than previous estimates—14 percent and 17 percent of the total population, respectively. These estimates were not backed by empirical evidence, but the two communities have over the years benefited immensely from their projected numbers.
The Kurubas, the community that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah hails from, has over 42.71 lakh people and accounts for around 7.5 percent of the state population. The Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes, which submitted the 2015 census report, also proposed to carve out a new category, which makes the Kurubas one of the biggest groups within this classification.
The report was placed before the state cabinet last week and is set to be discussed at a cabinet meeting Thursday.
“The (leaked data) shows there are 61 lakh Vokkaligas (in Karnataka) and this is injustice. Are there just 61 lakh Vokkaligas in 224 assembly seats? There are taluks where there are 60,000 to over a lakh people. To reduce this community to the sixth place… they are trying to fool us,” B. Kenchappa Gowda, president of the Vokkaliga sangha told media persons Tuesday.
He said the Vokkaligas will join hands with the Veerashaiva Lingayats, Brahmins and other communities to carry out statewide protests against the census.
The clamour to scrap the 2015 socio-economic and educational survey or “caste census” is largely coming from groups that have enjoyed a dominant status in society, politics and other fields. This survey was held when the Congress government led by Siddaramaiah was last in power (2013-2018).
Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has been firm on the need for a nationwide caste census and had used it as a poll plank in the run-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. However, leaked findings of the survey conducted in Karnataka 10 years ago have brought his own party’s government in the state to the centre of a row, with Congress ministers, legislators and others opposing the report.
In Karnataka, community or caste is seen to trump party affiliations and this has led to members of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s cabinet demanding that the census findings be scrapped.
Senior Congress leader Shamanur Shivashankarappa, who is also president of the All India Veerashaiva-Lingayat Mahasabha, has called for the same, adding to the CM’s troubles.
In a bid to address the opposition, Siddaramaiah’s deputy D.K. Shivakumar held meetings with Vokkaliga leaders of the party Tuesday evening.
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‘Duty to protect all communities’
More than a dozen Congress legislators were present at the meeting convened by Shivakumar, including those considered to be close aides of the CM. Even Jayaprakash Hegde, former chairman of the Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes, was seated beside the deputy CM.
“We will go to the cabinet meeting (Thursday) as representatives of our people and get them justice,” Shivakumar said Tuesday night, after the meeting.
“We are not worried about just one community. I am the Congress chief, I am a minister, it’s our duty to protect all communities,” he added, refusing to state whether the community leaders will ask Siddaramaiah to scrap the survey.
Another Congress leader who attended the meeting told ThePrint: “Our senior ministers will discuss our concerns with the CM. It is not that we are going against the government, but more a question of whether we can update the figures.”
Of the chief ministers Karnataka has had so far, 16 have belonged to the two dominant communities. Siddaramaiah’s own cabinet has eight Lingayats and six Vokkaligas.
Political analysts say that Siddaramaiah, from the backward Kuruba community, has long challenged the dominant status enjoyed by these two communities. The Congress under him has also got the backing of AHINDA (Kannada acronym for minorities, backward classes and Dalits).
Though community-based support is not a given, Vokkaligas are believed to back former prime minister H.D. Deve Gowda-led Janata Dal (Secular) and the Lingayats have stood firm with B.S. Yediyurappa-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the state.
‘Outdated’
It is imperative that Shivakumar stands with the Vokkaligas since he has projected himself as the “next Vokkaliga leader” after Deve Gowda.
Members of the Vokkaligara Sangha said that those in the government had become leaders because of the community.
“Ministers from our community, they too should fight. Didn’t your people support you? Why are you quiet now? We will make you ministers again,” Kenchappa Gowda said.
His colleague and director of the sangha Nelligere Babu was a little more direct in his threat.
“Whenever this community has stood up, there is a history of governments falling. If this census report is implemented, this government will fall,” he told reporters.
The leaked findings have given Siddaramaiah some breathing room from mounting allegations of corruption and taken the wind out of any challenge to his position as CM. But the issue is gaining traction across the country, as the BJP, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is targeting the Congress over “appeasement of Muslims”.
“Is this census a conspiracy planted to create chaos in the state? Or is it a ploy designed to divert public attention from rising prices and a series of corruption scandals that have embarrassed the government?” H. D. Kumaraswamy, Union minister and JD(S) Karnataka president, said Tuesday.
The BJP, JD(S) ally and main opposition party in the state, said the census results were outdated.
“Implementation of reservation based on the caste census is not even possible. This report is outdated—more than 10 years old. According to the backward classes commission, such a survey should happen every 10 years. The government’s statement about implementation is just eyewash,” B.Y. Vijayendra, state BJP president, said to the media.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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