‘Not our decision, senior party leaders decided’: CM Siddaramaiah on fresh caste census

CHIKKABALLAPUR: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday said that the decision to reenumerate the caste census data was taken by the party high command and that it was not the decision of the state government.

Speaking to reporters, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said, “Some complaints have been received regarding the caste census. It has been 10 years since the survey was conducted and it is old. In this context, party leaders have suggested that the census be conducted again in a short time. We will not reject the report. The report has been accepted in principle…”

Responding to a question about his disappointment with the party’s senior leaders’ decision on the Kantharaj Commission report, he said, “We will take action as decided by the party seniors. This is not our decision.”

#WATCH | Delhi | On the issue of caste survey, Karnataka Deputy CM DK Shivakumar says, “We know the sentiment of people, we respect every life. We have collected information from various sections of society. Some of them feel that it is a 10-year-old survey which has been done,… pic.twitter.com/tENZm2vmnq

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On Wednesday, Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar said that the caste census would be redone to allay doubts of various communities over the sanctity of data.

“It has been decided to clear the air over the earlier caste census concerning its data accuracy and concerns of under-representation of certain communities. Data will be collected once again through door-to-door and online surveys. The entire process would be done in a very transparent manner,” he told the media after a meeting with the AICC leaders in Delhi.

“AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi, AICC general secretaries K C Venugopal and Randeep Singh Surjewala discussed with the CM and me various aspects including party organisation, state politics and the stampede incident”, Shivakumar said.

“We had plans to finalise the re-doing of the caste census in the next Cabinet meeting to be held on June 12. Our national leaders have told us to redo the caste census, given concerns raised by several communities over the previous census. Our seniors have directed us to ensure that the process is fair and transparent and ensure all concerns of communities are addressed,” he added.

He said that the Karnataka government is committed to social justice. “Our government is committed to social justice. The decision of our senior leaders is a step towards ensuring every family has an opportunity to be enumerated in the caste census. I appeal to leaders of every community and seers of all communities to cooperate with this census,” he said.

The Deputy Chief Minister said that the state government has been conducting a survey of SC/ST communities to collect data on sub-castes for the last two months. “As the new caste census will take a longer time, we will discuss the modalities of the census in the next Cabinet meeting. There is no need for worry as we will take everyone into confidence in this process. We will correct all concerns expressed about the previous caste census. An online option is given so that people of our state can have an opportunity to be enumerated even if they are currently living outside the state,” he explained. (ANI)