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‘Caste census or hate census,’ asks Kumaraswamy as BJP and JD(S) seek to corner Congress govt
Karnataka BJP president B Y Vijayendra accuses Chief Minister Siddaramaiah of accepting the report of the Socioeconomic and Education Survey to stay in power.
Kumaraswamy sought population details of the community residing in seven districts of the old Mysore region. (File Photo)
In a social media post titled “Caste Census… Hate Census..?”, Union minister H D Kumaraswamy on Tuesday questioned the findings of the Karnataka government’s Socioeconomic and Education Survey and accused Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar of betraying the Vokkaliga community, to which both leaders belong.
Kumaraswamy sought population details of the community residing in seven districts of the old Mysore region. “Not only the data of the Vokkaliga community, the (population) numbers of Veerashaiva Lingayats and some other communities have also shocked me,” he wrote on X.
The Vokkaligas are dominant in the south interior Karnataka region.
The JD(S) leader asked whether the “Census guarantee was a conspiracy to cause chaos in the state” or a tactic to deflect attention from a series of price hikes and corruption cases. “When the entire state is engulfed in the fire of caste, is this move of Congress government a continued chapter in seeking political, (and) social vengeance against certain communities?” he wrote.
Kumaraswamy attacked Shivakumar, who is also the state Congress chief, for changing his stance after opposing the survey in a “weak voice” in front of the community in the past. “For the sin of giving pen and paper (to Shivakumar), the Vokkaliga community is paying the price. For the greed of power, the same person is writing a death sentence for the community,” he wrote.
BJP state president B Y Vijayendra accused Chief Minister Siddaramaiah of accepting the report to stay in power as he might have to vacate his chair soon.
“In the past, the same Siddaramaiah ignited a fire by demanding separate religion status for Veerashaiva Lingayats,” Vijayendra told reporters at Belagavi, referring to the movement under Industries Minister M B Patil—a Lingayat like Vijayendra—that urged the BJP-led central government, ahead of the 2018 polls, to grant the status for the community largely residing in central and north Karnataka districts.
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“Today, Siddaramaiah has started the process of dividing Hindus and Muslims,” he said.
Vijayendra further accused the Congress of using Muslims for vote bank politics, stating that the party was misusing the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities similarly. Save to pursue such politics, “neither the Congress party nor Siddaramaiah has any honesty” in implementing the survey’s recommendations, he said, adding that the BJP would expose the government in the coming days.
The JD(S) is an ally of the BJP in the National Democratic Alliance.
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