Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru

Bengaluru, May 1: The Karnataka BJP on Thursday launched a sharp attack on Chief Minister Siddaramaiah over his remarks offering the state’s caste census model as guidance for the Union government, calling it a “textbook example” of how not to conduct a caste survey.

Leader of Opposition R Ashoka termed Siddaramaiah’s suggestion ‘laughable’ and said, “A report with no original copy, lacking secretary signatures, filled by school children paid a few rupees, and which skipped houses with dogs this is your model?” He said the decade-old caste census conducted under the previous Congress government has not even been officially accepted.

Ashoka also rubbished Siddaramaiah’s claim that the BJP has always opposed caste census, citing the late Sushma Swaraj’s support for including caste data in the 2011 census. He criticised the Congress for mishandling the Social-Economic Caste Census (SECC-2011), saying it was poorly planned and the data was never made public despite huge expenditure.

He added that the BJP never used caste census for political gains. “We decided to conduct it when in power, not to score points from opposition,” Ashoka said, accusing the Congress of using data manipulation for electoral benefit.

On the other hand, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah welcomed the Centre’s move to conduct a caste census, claiming it validated Congress’ policies. “The BJP had mocked our five guarantee schemes and later adopted them. Now they’re following our lead on the caste census too,” he said.

Siddaramaiah said Karnataka’s Social, Economic, and Educational Survey was comprehensive and helped shape inclusive policy decisions like revised reservation quotas. He urged the Union government to adopt a similar approach and include social, economic, and educational parameters in the upcoming census.