Karnataka’s caste survey opens a Pandora’s Box for the polity

Siddaramaiah asked all the ministers to give their ‘opinions’ in writing which would be discussed at the next cabinet meeting to find a way forward.

Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah, who considers himself “the second messiah of the OBCs of Karnataka” after D Devaraj Urs, has stirred a hornet’s nest by proposing to his Cabinet drastic changes to the reservation matrix which, if implemented, could alter the political equations in the state.

Lingayats and Vokkaligas, the two dominant communities that have contributed the maximum number of chief ministers and who sense the danger of the earth moving under their feet, have pushed back strongly accusing the chief minister of playing “dirty politics.” They have threatened to launch a state-wide agitation to bring down the government if the proposal is not withdrawn.

A decade-old socio-economic and educational survey conducted by the State Backward Classes Commission during Siddaramaiah’s previous tenure as CM in 2013-18, has been dusted up by the new chairman of the Commission, K Jayaprakash Hegde, and presented with his recommendations to rework the reservations for different categories based on “a new set of parameters and the latest population figures.”

Sharp division in the Cabinet

The Cabinet which discussed the proposal for over 150 minutes last week was sharply divided as senior ministers belonging to upper castes hotly contested the ‘caste numbers’ derived from the survey, while ministers belonging to the OBC communities, one of which Siddaramaiah represents, claimed that 94 per cent of the state’s population had been surveyed and the ‘new reality’ had to be recognised.

As there was no consensus on the findings of the report and its recommendations, Siddaramaiah asked all the ministers to give their ‘opinions’ in writing which would be discussed at the next cabinet meeting to find a way forward.

Deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar, the Vokkaliga strongman waiting to ‘replace’ Siddaramaiah as chief minister in November as per a reported power-sharing formula, has surprised many people with his muted response to Siddaramaiah’s aggressive moves. There is speculation that he might have been ‘silenced’ by Rahul Gandhi who has repeatedly asked for a nation-wide caste census and Siddaramaiah obviously has his complete support.

Opposition from religious heads

However, the religious heads of Lingayat and Vokkaliga communities which have dominated Karnataka politics for over six decades held a series of meetings with the ministers and other leaders belonging to their communities and demanded that the “out-dated and most unscientific” report be thrown to the “dust bin.” Close to 40 per cent of the total 137 Congress MLAs belong to these two communities.

The survey has put the number of Lingayats at 66 lakhs and that of Vokkaligas at 61 lakhs, but the community leaders insist that they are in excess of 100 lakhs each.

Giving an example, the Vokkaligara Sangha general secretary T Konappa Reddy said the survey pegs the number of ‘Marasu Vokkaligas’ in the state at a mere 3,859 “whereas I can show you ten times that number in just three hoblis of Bengaluru Rural alone,” and asked: “Who is responsible for this mischief and how could the government accept such a grossly inaccurate report?”

The Lingayats and Vokkaligas, who between them have had the maximum number of chief ministers so far based on their numerical strength have found their share shrinking, while the survey claims that the number of OBCs has gone up to 70 per cent and it proposed increasing their reservation from the existing 32 per cent to 51 per cent.

A hiatus of 38 years

Leaders like Shivakumar will be aware that the despite their huge numbers the Vokkaligas have suffered due to their divided loyalties. After Kadidal Manjappa’s tenure of two months as chief minister in 1956, there was a long hiatus of 38 years before HD Deve Gowda, another Vokkaliga, assumed the office of CM in 1994. The dominant communities may find their chances diminishing further if the OBCs gain an upper hand in state politics.

The opposition has accused the chairman of Backward Classes Commission Jayaprakash Hegde of “tweaking” the report to give an unfair advantage to Kurubas among OBCs (the community to which Siddaramaiah belongs) as it has not only recommended increasing the reservation to Kurubas to 12 percent, but reclassified them as Most Backward Classes for them to gain maximum benefit.

Greater share for Kurubas

They have also pointed out other discrepancies like the reservation for Lingayats (66 lakh) going up from 4 percent to 8 percent and that of Vokkaligas (61 lakh) from 3 percent to 7 percent, whereas Kurubas whose latest population is estimated at 43.72 lakh have been recommended to get 12 percent.

There is also a brewing controversy over Muslims being categorised as a single “caste” and their reservation increased from 4 percent to 8 percent taking into consideration that their population had increased to 75.25 lakh.

The earlier reservation was given to ‘sub castes’ among Muslims based on their backwardness, as the Constitution does not allow reservation to be made on the basis of any ‘religion.’ The opposition has accused Siddaramaiah of playing ‘appeasement politics’ as his government recently also provided 4 per cent reservation to Muslims in government’s civil contracts.

That Siddaramaiah’s proposals may face many more hurdles was evident after Satish Jarkiholi, a powerful minister from ST community and an aspirant for the CM’s post, met KH Muniyappa, a 7-time former MP and an SC minister close to Sonia Gandhi. Jakarholi later told the media that “the cabinet may require at least one year” to take a considered view of the new reservation policy as “there are many complicated issues to be sorted out.”

Thus, with resistance coming from several quarters, it is more than likely that Siddaramaiah may have to wait before realising his ‘dream project’ of  making the OBCs have a greater say in Karnataka politics.