BENGALURU: Lingayats claim to be close to 17% of Karnataka’s estimated seven crore population, making them the single-largest caste in the state. In other words, they peg their population at 1.2 crore. Similarly, Vokkaligas claim to be 15% of the total population or 1.05 crore, claiming the second-largest caste spot. Dominant is the word both communities are described by in Karnataka politics. More often than not their representatives are decision makers in almost all walks of life.
But that settled social order is in for a disruption as the recent Socio-economic and Education Survey, popularly known as the ‘caste census report’, knocked both these communities out of their pedestal. Its report was submitted to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on February 28 by K Jayaprakash Hegde, the then chairman of the Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes (KSCBC).
It created ripples among the two big communities, as the survey is said to have placed the Lingayat population at a mere 65 lakh (10.9%) and Vokkaligas at 60 lakh (10%) while bringing down Karnataka’s total population to 5.98 crore though it already was 6.1 crore as per the 2011 census. The survey is also said to have found 1,351 different castes in the state. Of the 5.98 crore people, over 3.98 crore are from the AHINDA (Kannada acronym for minorities, backward classes and Dalits) group, while 1.87 crore are part of a basket of Lingayats, Vokkaligas, Brahmins and other castes, as per the report. If Lingayats and Vokkaligas aren’t caste chart toppers, they would stand to lose the commensurate social and welfare benefits, hence the disquiet.
The survey instead placed the Scheduled Castes on top of the pecking order, followed by the Muslims (see chart). Lingayats and Vokkaligas stood third and fourth on the list, respectively. As a result, the panel is learnt to have recommended increasing the quota for the SCs. It also stressed that “Veerashaivas and Lingayats are the same”, sources said.
For the state government, the report is a political hot potato. Several days after its submission, it has not yet put the report out in public domain. While Siddaramaiah is a master at backward class politics, which was why he commissioned the survey, the Lingayats and Vokkaligas aren’t amused. How well he manages to balance the aspirations of the backward classes with those of the dominant communities remains to be seen.
The dominant castes
The Lingayats are members of a religious sect found more in the South and Maharashtra, especially Karnataka, since the 12th century AD during Jagadguru Basavanna’s time. Their population concentration is in North Karnataka and the Central Karnataka region. The Vokkaligas, who basically depend on agriculture, are largely dominant in the old Mysuru region and also in the Malnad region in Karnataka. It was during B S Yediyurappa’s tenure as chief minister in 2020 that the Veerashaiva Lingayat Development Corporation was constituted. He had even announced `500 crore for their development.
The Vokkaliga is a community of closely-related castes, mainly in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. They are warriors and cultivators, with a historically notable demographic as they have political and economic dominance in the Old Mysore region. As per some historians, the Rashtrakutas and Western Gangas were of Vokkaliga origin. The Vokkaligas occupied administrative positions in the Vijaynagar Empire and later formed the early rulers of the Nayakas of Keladi. The Vokkaligas had the most families in the ruling classes of the 17th century. Under the Kingdom of Mysore, they served in the army and the militia. Most subsects of the Vokkaliga community are designated as forward castes by the Union government, while some subsects in rural areas are designated as Other Backward Classes by the Karnataka government.
Opposition to caste census report
Leaders from the Vokkaliga and Lingayat communities are dead against the caste census. The Akhila Bharatha Veerashaiva Lingayat Mahasabha is pressuring Chief Minister Siddaramaiah as well as the state government to reject the report. The Mahasabha in its 24th general assembly in Davanagere in December last year decided to oppose it tooth and nail. They are threatening to hold a statewide protest if the report is accepted.
Vokkaliga stance
Soon after Hegde submitted the report, voices against it started getting shriller. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said he would place the report before the Cabinet and seek his colleagues’ opinion. He also said he would seek legal and expert views. However, the report is yet to reach the Cabinet, and chances are it may have to at least await the end of the Lok Sabha polls.
Just a few months ago, Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, a Vokkaliga, and other leaders from his community had urged the CM not to accept the report. They claimed it was not put together scientifically as there was no proper door-to-door survey. The Vokkaligara Sangha had submitted a memorandum to the CM against the caste census, which was signed by Shivakumar, agriculture minister N Cheluvarayaswamy and higher education minister M C Sudhakar in the ruling Congress government, prominent Vokkaliga seers including Sri Nirmalananda Swamiji of Adichunchanagiri Mahasamsthana, Sri Nanjavadutha Mahaswamiji of Sri Guru Gundla Brahmeshwara Mahasamsthana Mutt and Kumarachandrashekaranatha Mahaswamiji of Vishwa Vokkaliga Mahasamsthana Mutt.
The Karnataka Vokkaliga Sangha and Rajya Vokkaligara Meesalaathi Horata Samithi had written to Siddaramaiah claiming that the Hegde commission quantified the state’s population as 5.9 crore though the Aadhaar data puts it at over 6.9 crore. They went on to allege that those who conducted the survey did not visit all the households. “The present Hegde’s report is based on Kantharaju’s report and Kantharaju’s report was done during 2014-15, which means there is a gap of 10 years. In the last ten years, there have been drastic changes and making a report based on this is unscientific,” it stated. The state government claims to have spent `169 crore to conduct the caste census.
Lingayat reaction
Siddaramaiah also faced embarrassment when 30 Lingayat MLAs urged him to reject the report. It was also signed by Congress ministers in his cabinet, including M B Patil, Shivananda Patil and Eshwar Khandre. Congress MLA Shamanuru Shivashankarappa, who heads the Veerashaiva Mahasabha, also expressed opposition to the report. A veteran Congressman, Shivashankarappa, who will turn 94 this June, is the senior-most MLA in the present Karnataka Assembly. He hails from Davanagere in the Central Karnataka region, which has a large Lingayat population. His son S S Mallikarjun is a minister in Siddaramaiah’s cabinet.
The Mahasabha demanded a re-survey. Shivashankarappa recently told reporters that the Kantharaju/Hegde report is based on 10-year-old data. “We are estimating there are over two crore people from the Lingayat community and we will conduct a survey from our Mahasabha. With the help of Vokkaligas and Brahmins, we are going to fight it. We do not accept this report,” he said. He went on to claim that his community (Lingayat) is distraught. “Things were better when J H Patel and S Nijalingappa were chief ministers,” he told the media. The Mahasabha meanwhile is also demanding a Deputy CM post for their community.
The background
It was during his first tenure as chief minister between 2013 and 2018 that Siddaramaiah had commissioned the survey. The then chairman of KSCBC, H Kantharaju, had prepared his report in 2018. But it was neither accepted nor made public. When Kantharaju’s term as chairman ended, the short-lived BJP government (May 17-23, 2018) appointed Jayaprakash Hegde as his successor. Hegde’s tenure ended on February 28, the day he submitted the report to the state government.
Siddaramaiah had earlier accused H D Kumaraswamy who was heading the Congress-JD(S) coalition government, of dragging his feet on the report during his watch as chief minister from May 23, 2018 to July 23, 2019.
Since 1947, Karnataka (including Mysuru State) has seen 22 CMs, some of whom served as CM more than once. Of them, 15 of them are from the Lingayat and Vokkaliga communities (8 Lingayats and 7 Vokkaligas). Both the Congress and the BJP fielded many Vokkaligas and Lingayats for the 2023 Assembly polls and most of them won. In 1990, when the Congress high command forced M Veerendra Patil, one of the prominent Lingayat leaders, to resign as chief minister, the community took it personally and moved away from the grand old party. With their representation reduced as per the latest census report, community members fear losing their representation politically as well. Not just in the cabinet, many of the boards and Corporations are headed by members of these two communities.
During his first term as chief minister, Siddaramaiah had proposed a separate religion tag for Lingayats and secured the cabinet’s approval. But it was widely opposed by many seers within the community as well as the Opposition BJP. In fact, it caused damage to the party in 2018, reducing the share of Congress MLAs in the assembly.