Caste census creates hatred, says Kumaraswamy

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: J D(S) legislature party leader HD Kumaraswamy has reiterated his opposition to the Kantharaju Commission, claiming it “created hatred between castes”.

He also slammed Chief Minister Siddaramaiah for not talking about the commission in the run up to elections but raising the issue after he assumed the CM’s post.

Siddaramaiah had also blamed Kumaraswamy for the state caste census report alleging the JD(S) leader had kept it in abeyance when he was the CM for year between 2018 and 2019.

“On the one hand, Congress says it is secular and on the other it is sowing seeds of hatred between castes with the caste census,” Kumaraswamy told mediapersons.

“Caste census is not important. Facilitating the poor of all castes is what should be proposed,” he added, accusing the Congress for using the caste census to please its “vote bank”.

The Kantharaju Commission is a socio-economic survey of Karnataka. It was constituted in April 2015 under then Karnataka State Backward Classes Commission (KSBCC) Chairperson H Kantharaj who then prepared the report at a cost of Rs 162 crore and submitted it in the same year.

Alleged leaks from the Kantharaju Commission report seem to suggest that the two dominant communities – Lingayats and Vokkaligas – were outnumbered by Dalits and Muslims, both communities with fewer resources and political heft.

This has led to Lingayats and Vokkaligas to oppose the disclosure of the report. Shivakumar, a Vokkaliga, has denied reports that he wrote to CM Siddaramaiah to not accept the Kantharaju Commission report.