Bengaluru, Mar 28: With chief minister Siddaramaiah keen to play the Ahinda card ahead of the 2018 assembly polls, there is a possibility of the much-awaited socio-economic caste census (SECC) data being revealed.
Chief minister Siddaramaiah, too, made his intention clear in his post-budget speech, which categorically mentioned dalits, Muslims and OBCs, the three numerically large communities in the state. He said only the Congress can protect their interests.
Why he's keen on making data public?
As there was no caste-based enumeration after 1931, numerous groups have been demanding the government make the census data public so that they could use it to seek higher representation. In such a scenario, Siddaramaiah is hoping to emerge as the protagonist in their fight for justice by facilitating intra-caste competition.
According to party strategists, the caste data can also change the way elections are fought in Karnataka. The data leaked last year projected the numbers of two politically dominant communities — Lingayats and Vokkaligas who have been traditionally supporting the BJP and JD(S) respectively — to be lower than believed. By making the figures public, the party hopes to woo Ahinda communities by promising to change the way the government has been granting reservation to various castes.
Not just caste reservation, the data has other interesting aspects that could shape political strategy and change the way party tickets are distributed. But some political experts believe making the census public will boomerang on the Congress and create social upheaval.
When the census statistics were was leaked last year, the Congress government received a lot of backlash, especially from Lingayat and Vokkaliga leaders. Many Congress legislators too had opposed it fearing the ire of major communities.
May weaken vote bank: Experts
"The census report may lead to an internal fight among Ahinda groups and weaken the traditional vote bank of Congress. Dalits, who constitute 24% of the state's population, are already fighting over reservation. Madigas, a prominent dalit sub-sect, are seeking implementation of the Justice Sadashiva Commission report while Chalavadi, Bhovia and Lambani sub-sects are opposing it," said Mahadev Prakash, a political commentator.
Political analyst Sandeep Shastri said the caste census report will have both positive and negative implications. "Figures of the nine dominant backward castes may see a sharp rise while dominant caste numbers are likely to decline steeply. The government wants to cash in on the projection of non-dominant OBCs and hope for no negative impact from dominant castes. At another level, the Congress could focus on non-dominant OBCs, keeping in mind that dominant castes are anyway not in its favour."
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