BENGALURU: Karnataka’s More and Most Backward Caste (MBCs) leaders came together under the leadership of actor-activist Chetan Ahimsa on Thursday, to criticise the Backward Classes Commission, and denounce what they said was “betrayal of social justice.”
Terming the newly-introduced 1B reservation category “unscientific, unjust, and politically motivated”, speakers accused the Commission of bypassing academic and employment data and educational statistics to fabricate the category for political convenience. “This is not social justice,” declared one speaker.
MBC nomadic communities demanded their own scientific subclassification.
Actor Chetan Ahimsa said that while the Karnataka Socio-Economic & Educational Survey (SES-2015) was billed as a tool for social justice, it is looking more like caste manipulation. Ahimsa pointed to the sudden formation of 1B category in April 2025, which grants 12 per cent reservation to 80 castes, including the Kuruba community, to which Chief Minister Siddaramaiah belongs. He questioned why castes previously under Groups 1 and 2A were reshuffled, and communities like Kurubas (formerly 2A) were placed with some of the state’s most vulnerable, such as Devadasis and Hallaki Vokkaligas.
“The math doesn’t add up,” he said. “1B has a population of 73.9 lakh, smaller than 2A’s 77.7 lakh, yet gets 2 per cent more reservation. What justifies this?”