Why Congress' U-turn on Karnataka caste survey has left Siddaramaiah on sticky wicket

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy CM DK Shivakumar in a meeting with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Lok Sabha LoP Rahul Gandhi and others in New Delhi on Tuesday. (PTI)

Having battled a concerted pushback from the dominant Vokkaliga and Lingayat communities and on the verge of being officially accepted by the state government, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday swallowed the bitter pill by announcing "re-enumeration" under the Socio-economic and Education Survey, better known as the Karnataka caste survey.

Siddaramaiah's announcement came just days after the Congress party's top leadership expressed strong reservations over the data which they claimed was now a decade old and hence, required an update.

Defending the government's decision to conduct a fresh exercise on Thursday, the Chief Minister referred to Clause 1 of Section 11 of the Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes Act, which implies that the survey findings carried out in 2015 are invalid by now. The provision broadly states that the state government shall undertake a revision of the lists every ten years.

"The Cabinet, considering these clauses, has decided that since the Commission conducted the survey 10 years ago we will ask the Commission to go for a fresh survey," the CM said while announcing the decision, adding that the modalities of the exercise would be announced soon and that the exercise would be completed in 90 days.

The announcement of a fresh enumeration exercise has now put Siddaramaiah's pet project in jeopardy while also bolstering the Opposition's allegations of inaccuracies in the population data in the report compiled by the Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes.

Moreover, uncertainty prevails over the timeline of the completion of the exercise with teachers, the key personnel required for the process, likely to be unavailable to serve as enumerators till the mid-term vacations or the summer vacations next year, The Indian Express reports citing government sources in the know.

As per the sources cited in the report, the survey results may not be made official until at least late 2026.

The development, however, marks a major climbdown for Siddaramaiah who had brushed aside the concerns raised over inaccuracies in the data and finally mustered the courage to accept the report after successive governments delayed it indefinitely. Siddaramaiah, in his first term as CM, also dragged his feet on accepting the report fearing a backlash from influential caste groups. However, he was on the verge of accepting the report this time when the high command stepped in.

Siddaramaiah, on his part, did not hide his disappointment and even sought to distance himself from the decision. "We will do whatever the high command says. It is not my decision. It is not the decision of the Cabinet. It is not the decision of our government. It is a decision of the high command. They have told us to go for re-enumeration," he said, placing the onus of delaying the implementation of the caste survey report on the party's central leadership.

The report gained prominence amid the push for a nationwide caste census by the Congress, particularly Rahul Gandhi, in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections. Buoyed by the party's national push, Siddaramaiah managed to garner enough support for the acceptance of the report despite protests by the economically and politically influential Vokkaliga and Lingayat caste groups, and internal dissent.

However, the volte face by the Congress leadership has now left Siddaramaiah in a tough spot, battling Opposition's allegations of announcing re-enumeration to deflect attention from the controversy over the recent stampede at the M Chinnaswamy stadium in Bengaluru that left 11 persons dead and several others injured.

The Opposition has also accused the Chief Minister of ignoring the voices of mutt heads and leaders from various communities but buckling to pressure from the party leadership.

"As soon as the high command pulled you up, you cleared the decision to re-enumerate. This makes one thing clear. You don’t trust the people of the state, mutt heads and leaders of various communities," Leader of Opposition R Ashok said, pointing out that Rs 167 crore was spent on the survey carried out in 2015. "Who is responsible for this huge amount spent on the caste census?"

As Siddaramaiah battles allegations from the Opposition and the anger of prominent caste groups, much of the ire he faces today may be the doing of Congress' own leaders who had earlier raised concerns over the accuracy of the report's findings.

Sources said the leak of the recommendations of the Commission, especially regarding the Kuruba community from which Siddaramaiah hails, allowed Congress leaders to pile more pressure on the high command to have a relook at the Karnataka caste survey.

The commission had endorsed shifting Kurubas from the 2A category, or Other Backward Classes (OBCs), to Category 1 or Backward Castes. Along with it, it suggested reducing the quota under 2A from 15 percent to 12 percent, while hiking the Category 1 quota from 4 percent to 6 percent.

Some OBC communities, including Edigas, were learnt to have expressed their displeasure to the move that added more communities to the bandwagon, forcing the high command to step in.