Ahead of the Karnataka government’s special Cabinet meeting on June 12, the Congress high command on Tuesday hinted at a resurvey of the contentious social and educational survey (caste census) report.
The decision was announced by Congress general secretary (Organisation) K C Venugopal after a meeting with Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar in the national capital.
The Karnataka leaders were in Delhi to apprise the Congress high command of various developments, including the stampede in Bengaluru that killed 11 people on June 4.
Though the caste census report was released in April this year, cabinet meetings on the report have been deferred without any resolution. The report has been discussed in as many as three Cabinet meetings without reaching any consensus.
Speaking to the media after the meeting, Venugopal said that the Congress leadership has suggested to Siddaramaiah that the Karnataka government re-enumerate the caste census within a stipulated time, as a section of the public raised apprehensions about the existing survey, which was conducted in 2015.
"Rahul Gandhi, CM of Karnataka, PCC chief of Karnataka, and state in-charge met today. The issue related to the caste census report to be taken up in a special cabinet meeting in Karnataka on 12th June was discussed. Congress believed that whatever the Karnataka government has done on the caste census has to be agreed to in principle. But there are some apprehensions by some sections of the community about the data. Since the caste census was done 10 years ago, the data is a little bit old. The Congress party has suggested that the Karnataka government re-enumerate within a stipulated time, like 60 days, 70 days, or whatever period the government comes up with,” he said, adding that the Karnataka CM will give further details on it.
The move assumes significance as the state government has been facing heat from the opposition and a section of party leaders, who termed the data as unscientific. Several leaders from the influential Lingayat and Vokkaliga communities have also opposed the report, saying that it was found to be lesser than what had been previously extrapolated.
We also discussed the current political situation and the recent unfortunate incident in Bengaluru. CM and PCC President briefed the party leadership on the incident and the action taken by the state government.
Venugopal further said that the Karnataka government has already ordered a judicial inquiry into the stampede that took several lives. The incident has invited sharp criticism from the opposition BJP and JD(S), and there have been calls for the resignation of both the CM and the Deputy CM.
“We are concerned about human lives lost. The state government has ordered a judicial enquiry into what happened. The party doesn’t want to interfere with the nitty gritty during the inquiry. However, we are of the view that there should be a clear-cut pro-people attitude on the issue. Another critical issue is that the Central government is completely ignoring Karnataka in funds allocation. The Modi government is doing injustice to Karnataka," he said.
