BENGALURU: The renewed political debate over the caste census report has divided opinions in Congress just when it needs a united house to strategise for the 2023 assembly elections.
Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Siddaramaiah has demanded that the BJP government should accept the Kantharaj commission’s report and reclassify reservation categories based on the recommendations. But Congress members from Veerashaiva-Lingayat and Vokkaliga communities are against this.
Another camp believes that the arguments within the party will hurt its efforts to woo Lingayats, who may be upset with BJP over BS Yediyurappa’s exit as the chief minister, and put off Vokkaligas.
In 2018, Congress supported a campaign seeking a separate religious identity for Lingayats. The move backfired in the assembly elections that year and some Congress functionaries are worried that this may happen again in 2023 if the party gets into the caste issue.
“The party high command has taken note of it and constituted a committee under M Veerappa Moily to look into the caste census matter. Let us wait for the report before stating our stand. I advise all our functionaries to exercise restraint till then,” said the state Congress president, DK Shivakumar.
The topic was discussed at a CLP meeting convened by Siddaramaiah on Tuesday. His supporters, including Byrathi Suresh, a Kuruba legislator, wanted Congress to raise it in the monsoon session of the legislature starting Monday, while Lingayat MLAs such as Shivanand Patil said that the party should take a stand against the Kantharaj commission’s report.
Senior Veerashaiva legislators, including Shamanur Shivashankarappa and Eshwar Khandre, were not present at the meeting. “I don’t know why Siddaramaiah is trying to rake up the caste issue, which has already proved to be a deterrent to the party. However, on behalf of the Veerashaiva Mahasabha, I oppose the commission’s report as the findings are politically motivated and lopsided,” said Shivashankarappa, the president of the Veerashaiva Mahasabha.
The Congress government headed by Siddaramaiah had ordered the caste census, or socioeconomic survey. The findings have not been made public yet, but it is believed that they show a significant increase in the population of some disadvantaged communities and allegedly undermine the numbers of Lingayats and Vokkaligas. Recently, members of the two communities formed a joint forum to oppose the report.
“The census was commissioned to uphold the principles of social justice. We are going to raise the issue in the upcoming legislature session and demand that the government accept the report,” Siddaramaiah, the opposition leader in the assembly, said.
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