Karnataka: Caste census may reset political future of many leaders

The April 17 special cabinet meeting is likely to divide ministers along community lines and witness exchange of sharp opinions as leaks of caste census findings challenge the existing beliefs of caste dominance while projecting Muslims as the single largest group, followed by the Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs), said people familiar with the matter.

While such a projection will leave Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and chief minister Siddaramaiah in glee, leaders of dominant communities including deputy CM DK Shivakumar are sure to feel threatened, they said.

Such leaders derive their political oxygen from the perceived dominance of their communities, but the findings of the socio-economic survey, placed before the cabinet on Friday are likely to spark a political upheaval, according to people in the know.

Key matters such as distribution of tickets, ministerial berth and claims for the CM’s post often hinge on where the claimant’s community stands in terms of numerical strength. While communities such as Lingayats and Vokkaligas have been dissected by their sub-castes, quite a few backwards, SCs, STs and Muslims have not faced such a problem.

Industries minister MB Patil, an influential Lingayat leader from North Karnataka, disputed the findings when he said on Sunday that Lingayats number more than 10 million in the state, far higher than what the report had indicated.

Many members of his community, he said, had recorded their community as Hindu-Sadar, Hindu-Ganiga and Hindu-Banajiga to save their quota under 2A category, deliberately avoiding a mention of Lingayat. He said he would air his opinion on Thursday at the special cabinet meet.

Deputy CM Shivakumar said he and the CM would study the report and fix if there were any shortcomings, while seeking to play it safe. In November 2023, he and his cabinet colleague N Cheluvarayaswamy had signed a petition urging the CM not to accept the caste census report.

The Vokkaligara Sangha and Veerashaiva Mahasabha, the influential apex bodies representing Vokkaligas and Veerashaivas, have warned against making the findings of the caste census public. Leaders of Lingayat and Vokkaliga mutts are holding a joint meeting in Bengaluru on April; 16 to decide on their next course of action as they seek to build pressure on the government.

The opposition BJP, already livid at the Congress regime creating a separate quota for Muslims in government tenders, said Siddaramaiah was trying to claim Muslims as the largest community so that he could shower more freebies on them.

The BJP and the RSS have always opposed caste census fearing that it would fragment the Hindu society. The BJP state general secretary N Ravi Kumar has urged the government to convene a special session of the legislature to discuss the caste census report.