Pontiffs, political leaders brainstorm ahead of Karnataka caste survey

Bengaluru, Sep 20 (PTI) With just days to go before Karnataka’s socio-economic and educational survey, seers from various castes held brainstorming sessions with leaders of political parties and social organisations on Saturday to strategise participation and survey procedures.

Pontiffs of various Maths drew attention after the BJP and other right-wing organisations raised concerns over the inclusion of new sub-castes, including ‘Vokkaliga Christians’, ‘Lingayat Christians’, ‘Kuruba Christians’, ‘Vishwa Brahmin Christians’, ‘Madiwala Christians’ and ‘Nekara Christians’.

The BJP has described the entire exercise as an "attempt to divide" the Hindu society for "political gains" while the ruling Congress maintained that it is aimed at delivering social justice to the downtrodden communities.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah told reporters in Gadag that the survey will help formulate policies based on the ‘socio-economic, educational and employment’ status of the communities.

He, however, indicated that the ‘Christian’ nomenclature has been omitted from the ‘caste survey’.

Karnataka Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot too HAD expressed his concern over such inclusion in his letter to the CM on September 16, which was made public.

"It is noticed that the use of such Christian identifiers and nomenclatures are not seen in any of the caste lists of the state and as per my knowledge, there is no such case identities in the Christian religion, so the above move of the State Government giving caste identity in the Christian religion may cause social disturbance, long term complications and irreparable damage to the social fabric of the State,” the Governor said.

On Saturday, Nirmalanandanatha Swamiji, the chief pontiff of Adi Chunchanagiri Math belonging to the dominant Vokkaliga community held a meeting in Bengaluru.

The gathering saw the presence of political heavyweights, including Deputy Chief Minister and Congress state president D K Shivakumar, Union Minister and JD(S) second-in-command H D Kumaraswamy, Union Minister Shobha Karandlaje, Leader of Opposition BJP in the Karnataka Assembly R Ashoka, BJP MP K Sudhakar, BJP MLA C N Ashwath Narayan.

According to sources, the key message of the meeting was to maintain unity among Vokkaligas and avoid mentioning sub-castes in the upcoming survey.

Addressing the gathering, the pontiff said the Vokkaligas should list their religion as 'Hindus' and caste as ‘Vokkaliga’.

Speaking to reporters, Ashoka said, “There should not be any attempt to tear Vokkaligas into 108 subcastes." Kumaraswamy raised doubts over the success of the survey.

In a post on ‘X’, he wondered whether 6.5 crore people of the state really would be surveyed in just 15 days and that too during Navaratri.

“Are festivals and duties only for the government, not for teachers, anganwadi workers, and officials? This is not the right time. Postpone it or extend the timeline,” the Union Minister said.

He said citizens deserve an honest, objective survey, not another wasted report draining taxpayers’ money.

According to Kumaraswamy, at least three months are essential to conduct it in stages.

“A hasty survey helps no one. What we need is a fair exercise that leaves no community behind. If not, those driving this flawed process must be held accountable,” he said.

The Veerashaiva-Lingayat community, a dominant community of Karnataka too held similar brainstorming exercise.

A certain section within the Veerashaiva Lingayat community sought to be identified as a separate religion and not as a Hindu.

However, Vachanananda Swamiji, the pontiff of Veerashaiva Lingayat Panchamasali Jagadguru Peetha in Harihar appealed to people to identify themselves as Hindu and mention Veerashaiva Lingayat as their caste.

Various communities too are holding meetings on the caste survey.

It is expected that there will be intense discussion on Sunday as well. PTI GMS GMS ROH