Socio-economic survey will begin on Sep 22, says Siddaramaiah amid reports of resistance within the Congress

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday ruled out postponing the socio-economic and educational survey that is scheduled to begin on September 22, Monday, amid reports of pressure from a section of his Cabinet colleagues to take it up after sorting out confusion over inclusion of some castes.

“The survey will commence on September 22,” the CM told media persons when asked about the reservations expressed over the caste census in its present form by some senior ministers.

The CM said he has asked his colleagues to effectively counter the BJP’s campaign seeking to malign the survey as anti-Hindu. The BJP, he said, was politicizing the survey.


The CM said the Karnataka Permanent Backward Classes Commission was a statutory entity and the government cannot issue directions to it on inclusion or deletion of castes.

At Thursday’s Cabinet meeting, a few senior ministers from dominant communities are said to have taken exception to inclusion of names like Brahmin Christian, Lingayat Christian, Vokkaliga Christian and Kuruba Christian put out by the Commission ahead of the survey. Some of the ministers are concerned that such classifications would not present the correct picture of the size of their communities and backfire on the Congress.

The commission officials are said to have told these were the names mentioned during the previous survey by some people and there were some requests too to include new names of castes. Some ministers are said to have urged the CM to club all members of Christian community under one group.

The CM later asked a group of ministers led by Dy CM DK Shivakumar to discuss with Commission chairman Madhusudan Naik and sort things out.

It is to be seen how Veerashaiva-Lingayats, Karnataka’s dominant community, will respond to the survey. One group of leaders wants them to seek a separate religious identity as Veerashaiva-Lingayats distinct from the Hindus while the BJP Lingayat leaders want them to identify themselves as Hindus.