Lingayats, Vokkaligas plan major showdown over caste census

Lingayats and Vokkaligas, the two dominant communities, are preparing for a major showdown with the state’s Congress regime, upset over the government placing the controversial caste census report before the Cabinet, making them politically vulnerable.

The Siddaramaiah government has come under intense pressure both from within the ruling Congress as well as outside with the party lawmakers from dominant communities disagreeing with the caste survey findings. The Cabinet’s stand at its special meeting on April 17 will influence the future course of action by different communities.

Dy CM DK Shivakumar, a member of the Vokkaliga community, met with Congress MLAs from his community to gather their opinion on the stand he must take at the special Cabinet meeting called on Thursday to discuss the report. “As a representative of the community, I would like to discuss with our legislators on how to present the community’s case in the Cabinet meeting,” he told the media, while declining to share his stand.

Women & Child Welfare Minister Laxmi Hebbalkar, a Lingayat member from the North Karnataka region, has called for a re-survey of communities, disagreeing with the findings of the Karnataka State Permanent Backward Classes Commission.

The Vokkaligara Sangha, a powerful apex organization of Vokkaligas, met on Tuesday, and decided to chalk out plans for a state-wide after April 17. The Sangha threatened to topple the Congress regime if the caste census was implemented.

The Veerashaiva Mahasabha, which claims to have a more accurate information about the Lingayat-Veerashaiva community’s numbers at its district and taluk units, is planning to appoint a retired judge to come up with its own report and advise on the future course of action

Lingayat and Vokkaliga mutt heads have meanwhile decided to have a joint meeting in Bengaluru on Wednesday.

The caste census report challenges the existing order of the caste dominance while projecting Muslims as the single largest caste group.

Industries minister MB Patil, an influential Lingayat leader from North Karnataka, was the first to point out on Sunday that Lingayats number more than 10 million in the state, far higher than what the report had indicated. Many members of his community, he said, had recorded their community as Hindu-Sadar, Hindu-Ganiga and Hindu-Banajiga to save their reservation benefits.

Heads of different influential mutts too have opposed the report, calling it deeply flawed.

The BJP and the RSS have always opposed caste census fearing that it would fragment the Hindu society. The BJP state general secretary N Ravi Kumar has urged the government to convene a special session of the legislature to discuss the caste census report.