Former Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. (File photo/PTI)
As the Congress doubles down on its demand for conducting the caste census in the 'right' manner (drop-down list instead of open-ended questions), former Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah's aggressively demanding the state government to implement the findings of the Karnataka caste survey has put the grand old party in an uncomfortable position.
Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh on Wednesday once again stated that Centre's decision to use the current format for the caste census has 'very serious flaws'.
A caste census is not just about counting castes, but about ensuring social justice. Right kind of questions --> Right data --> Right share --> Social justice," Ramesh said in a post in Hindi on X.
Seeking a nationwide caste census is one thing, but implementing the findings of a caste-based survey can have massive political ramification as it has the potential to disturb, create imbalance in an existing social equation within which state power thrives.
Siddaramaih's call for implementing Karnataka caste findings
Siddaramaiah on Sunday called for the implementation of the caste census and increase of reservation for Dalits, backward communities and minorities to 75 per cent, saying an egalitarian society could not be achieved without equal opportunities based on population.
Siddaramaiah said the caste survey conducted during his earlier tenure as chief minister should be implemented. He was referring to the report submitted by the Backward Classes Commission headed by Madhusudan Naik, which he said he had accepted before demitting office as chief minister.
By returning to caste enumeration and proportional representation, the former chief minister has invariably put the Congress government led by incumbent CM DK Shivakumar under pressure to act on an issue closely associated with his own political identity.
For Shivakumar, this is an uncomfortable inheritance. The Congress cannot easily let go the demand. Doing so could make the party vulnerable to the charge that its commitment to caste justice is stronger when it is directed at the BJP than when it requires difficult decisions in a state it governs.
All-India caste enumeration vs state enumeration
At the national level, the Congress has made caste enumeration one of its biggest political weapons against the BJP. The party is taking that argument into the 2027 Census, which will enumerate castes beyond Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes nationally for the first time since Independence.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi have written to the Centre raising objections over the issue, Yadav said, alleging that the government had not provided a clear mechanism for collecting caste information.
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