As the chorus for caste-based census gets shriller with a cross-party delegation led by Nitish Kumar meeting PM Narendra Modi on Monday, Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai is facing the heat of the opposition who demand that the 2015 Socio Economic Caste Census (SECC) report be made public.
Reacting to the issue, BJP minister for backward class welfare department Kota Srinivas Poojary said, “The report is at the evaluation stage. Once the report is ready, we will take it to the cabinet for approval and the call will be taken there.”
Interestingly, all the current cabinet ministers, including KS Eshwarappa, Poojary, R Ashoka had demanded then Siddaramaiah government to release the census report when they were in opposition.
In the view of the passage of the 127th Constitutional Amendment Bill that gives states the power to decide the quota in the Other Backward Classes category, there has been a demand by regional parties to conduct a socio-economic caste census in the country to understand the status of castes.
Former CM and Congress leader Siddaramaiah has hit out at the Bommai-led state governmnet for not releasing the report. “…I urge the state and the Centre to release the nation-wide report soon to ensure equality among all castes,” Siddaramaiah said.
Siddaramaiah had commissioned the socio-economic caste census in April 2015 at the cost of Rs 133 crore but didn’t release it despite it being ready in 2017 when Congress was still in power. This census was conducted after a gap of 84 years. He said he wanted to release the data ahead of the 2018 assembly elections but a few members of the Congress had opposed it.
After the Congress lost the 2018 state elections and had to forge an alliance with the JD(S) to form a government headed by HD Kumaraswamy, a blame game started between the two parties where Kumaraswamy called the entire issue “politically motivated”.
According to sources, the dominant caste such as the Lingayats constitute only 9.8% of the six-crore state population, Vokkaligas 8.2%, while SC, ST, OBC and other minorities constitute a major chunk.
The Karnataka monsoon session is scheduled to be held between September 13 and 24 and the issue of caste census is expected to be raised.
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