Caste census: BJP demands masking of 14 SC/ST castes with Christian identity

Bengaluru, Sep 23 (PTI) Opposition BJP on Tuesday alleged that the Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes, which is conducting the Social and Education Survey, is not functioning independently and that it is being "remote controlled".

It urged the commission to "mask" 14 SC/ST castes having dual identity nomenclature -- with Christian word suffixed to them.

The commission has however clarified that 14 castes referred to by the BJP delegation are not part of its castes list anymore, as they have already been removed.

The survey, popularly referred to as the 'caste census', that began on Monday, will go on till October 7.

A delegation of BJP leaders led by the Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council, Chalavadi Narayanswamy, submitted a memorandum to the Backward Classes Commission Chairman Madhusudan R Naik, demanding that 14 SC/ST castes having dual identity nomenclature like -- Madiga Christian, Banjara Christian, Valmiki Christian -- should also be hidden or masked in the 'App' used for the survey.

They questioned why the commission did not mask these 14 SC/ST castes, when it decided to mask 33 other castes with similar dual identities having a word Christian suffixed to them.

Subsequently, Naik clarified that these 14 SC/ST castes with dual identity are not part of the list anymore, as they have already been removed, and that the BJP delegation had come with a misconception.

"When we made a paper notification in August, some of these castes were there in the list. But subsequently, when we analysed we felt these castes should not be in the list and had removed them. With a misconception that these castes are still part of the list, the BJP leaders submitted a memorandum to remove them. As these castes are not part of the list, there is no question of removing them," he said.

While announcing the decision to mask 33 castes having dual identity from the survey caste list, Naik on Sunday said the list of castes in the handbook was not for public information and doesn't have any legal sanctity. It was only to help the enumerators get the list of castes in the drop-down of the App, as per the alphabetical order.

He had said that the App used for the survey would not show these 33 castes with dual identities, with them being masked now. However, a person is free to enumerate according to his/her choice.

Meanwhile, speaking to reporters after meeting with the Commission chairman, Narayanswamy said a demand has been made to hide the names of 15 SC/ST castes with dual identity nomenclature having the word Christian as their suffix.

Alleging that the commission was being remotely controlled and it was not functioning independently, he said, neither the Sadashiva Commission, which looked into methods of equitable distribution of reservation facilities among SCs, nor the Justice Nagamohan Das Commission, which held a survey of 101 SCs to provide internal reservation, had castes with dual identity nomenclature having a word Christian as suffix. "Where did they come from all of a sudden?" Further claiming that, as per the commission's chairman -- the original caste of those who get converted to Chrisitianity or other religion, will remain as it is, Narayanaswamy said, "How will it remain as it is? It is not possible. Once converted to Christianity, the person is Chritstian, he/she cannot be a Dalit Christian, just because his/her original caste was Dalit." "Further, the chairman said that, once the data from the survey is available, it will be decided whether to give the benefits to those converted based on their original caste or differently," the LoP said, and asked, "Who are they (commission) to decide when the court has already decided?" BJP general secretary and MLA Sunil Kumar said, after about 1.5 hours of discussion, it came across that the commission and its chairman are not functioning independently and they are being remote controlled by someone.

Warning that the survey cannot happen smoothly if the 14 SC/ST caste names with Christian nomenclature are not masked or removed, he said, "There is worry and anger among people about this, before people protest, drop the names of those castes from the list." Kumar claimed that the commission's chairman had given an indirect message that the reservation will be continued to those who get converted, on the basis of their original caste.

"He (chairman) will have to clarify whether he is saying this on his own or on the instructions of the government ...this seems to be a conspiracy to misuse the reservation," he said. PTI KSU KH