BJP’s OBC Morcha urges Congress govt. to make caste census report public

BJP MP P. C. Mohan has urged the Congress government in Karnataka to make the Social and Educational Survey report public at the earliest.

Addressing a press conference organised by BJP’s OBC Morcha in Mysuru on Thursday, Mr. Mohan said the government should table the report on Social and Educational Survey, also known as caste census, in the coming Legislature session for a discussion.

He recalled that the Congress had spent about ₹600 crore on the caste census, but had not been able to extend any benefits of the exercise to the Other Backward Classes (OBC).

Though the caste census was conducted about ten years ago, the then Chairman of the Backward Classes Commission Kantharaj did not sign the report. His successor Jayaprakash Hegde was later entrusted with the responsibility, but the report did not see the light of the day.

Later, a second Social and Educational Survey was conducted by the Commission headed by Madhusudan Naik in 2025, but the submission of the report was again delayed. It was only after the Congress leadership in Delhi directed Siddaramaiah to step down as Chief Minister on May 26 did he hurriedly accept the report on May 27 just before handing over the reins of power.

Mr. Siddaramaiah, who rode to power in 2013 on the promise of providing justice to the OBCs, was unable to accept and implement the report during the eight years he was in power in Karnataka. Whenever his position shakes, Mr. Siddaramaiah has played the backward class and caste census card for his own political goals.

While more than ten years had passed in Karnataka without making the caste census report, in neighbouring Telangana and Bihar, the caste census reports were implemented within a year and the benefits were already reaching the OBCs in their States.

Pointing out that present Chief Minister D. K. Shivakumar does not speak about the caste census, Mr. Mohan urged Congress to table the report in the coming Legislature session for a discussion on the matter.

Former MLA Doddanna Gowda, who was also present at the press conference, questioned Mr. Siddaramaiah’s commitment to backward classes and asked why he did not implement the report during his tenure and waited till the last moment to even accept the report.

MLA T. S. Srivatsa and former MLA L. Nagendra were also present on the occasion.