Bengaluru: Addressing a gathering of Madigas in Bengaluru Tuesday, Karnataka minister K.H. Muniyappa asked them to “lay siege” to the homes of legislators to push for internal reservation among the state’s Scheduled Castes (SCs).
“Your struggles have inspired me. This is not enough, though. How it should be….a 100 people should lay siege to legislators’ homes,” Muniyappa, a Madiga leader himself, said to rapturous applause from the Adi Jambava Cultural Committee, a collective working for the welfare of the state’s most oppressed castes. To put more pressure on the government, legislators shouldn’t be allowed to conduct any programmes, he added.
The speech has ruffled many a feather not only in the Opposition but also within the state’s six-month-old Congress government led by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. It has brought to the fore internal divisions in a debate that has gained renewed traction in the state since December, when protests were held over internal reservation.
Madiga is a Dalit sub-caste group classified as SC-Left in Karnataka. According to historians, the concept of ‘left’ and ‘right-hand’ castes goes back to medieval times and was once prevalent in much of South India. In Karnataka, experts say those who are now considered ‘left’ were historically among the most oppressed, compared to others (now ‘right’) who had somewhat greater privileges.
According to the 2011 Census, SCs make up 17.5 percent of Karnataka’s population, while STs account for 6.95 percent. Of the state’s 224 assembly constituencies, 36 are reserved for SCs and 15 for STs.
Dalits in the state have been pushing for the implementation of the Justice Sadashiva Commission report. Set up in 2005 by the Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) government to examine methods of equitable distribution of reservation facilities among SCs and recommend internal reservation, the panel led by retired high court judge A.J. Sadashiva submitted its findings in 2012.
The commission reportedly recommended that the 101 castes on the SC list be divided into ‘left’, ‘right’, ‘touchables’, and ‘others’, with separate quotas for each.
Muniyappa’s speech Tuesday has created sharp divisions within the Congress, with a fellow minister telling ThePrint that the speech was “unnecessary”.
It also comes at a time when Karnataka, faced with pressure from powerful landowning communities such as the Veerashaivas/Lingayats and Vokkaligas, has put its 2018 caste survey by the Karnataka State Backward Classes Commission into cold storage.
On its part, the Siddaramiah government has officially tried to downplay Muniyappa’s words, with senior leaders of the party saying that the speech was not “anti-government” but “pro-community”, and highlighting how matters of caste take prominence over the party in the state.
“There is no confusion about it (the Sadashiva Commission report). We are deliberating on how it can be reviewed under the law. We have to discuss it with the cabinet and our colleagues on taking it forward,” Social Welfare Minister H.C. Mahadevappa told reporters Bengaluru.
His cabinet colleague G. Parameshwara — Karnataka’s home minister — has told the media that the Congress had promised to bring up the report in its very first session if it came to power, and that it intends to follow through.
But even as multiple leaders across the political spectrum said that just tabling the report wouldn’t be sufficient, Muniyappa’s words have given new ammunition to the Opposition.
As the speech blew up, senior BJP leader and former minister K.S. Eshwarappa told reporters Tuesday: “You (Muniyappa) are a minister and you are talking like this. Take up the issue in the cabinet and if demands are not met, then hand in your resignation (in protest).”
A. Narayana, a Bengaluru-based political analyst and faculty member at Azim Premji University, attributes the development to the multiplicity of competing interests within the Congress.
“These groups or individuals make claims for a larger share of the pie, whether it is reservations, the release of funds, or speculation about a change of guard (CM & top leadership). Any statements made by Congress leaders — including Muniyappa’s — have to be seen in this context,” he told ThePrint.
Question of representation
On Tuesday, while Muniyappa was still speaking, several members of the audience began calling for a Madiga deputy chief minister.
Karnataka has one deputy chief minister, D.K Shivakumar, who is a Vokkaliga leader. But several groups such as Dalits and Lingayats have reportedly called for more deputy CM posts for better representation of their castes .
According to its statement in 2012, the Sadashiva Commission had surveyed Karnataka’s 96.6 lakh Dalits and found ‘left’ communities accounted for about 33.47 percent of the SC population, ‘right’ for 32 percent, ‘touchables’ for 23.64 percent and ‘others’ for 4.65 percent. (Many survey respondents reportedly refused to answer, so these don’t add up to 100 percent.)
It estimated that there were about 25 ‘right-hand’ communities and 20 ‘left-hand’ ones.
The term ‘touchables’ here refers to historically disadvantaged communities — major groups being Banjaras, Bhovis, Korachas, and Koramas — who were included alongside ‘untouchables’ in the depressed classes list of the erstwhile state of Mysore, and later incorporated into the SC list.
On 23 March this year, the then BJP government led by Basavaraj Bommai passed a cabinet resolution recommending internal reservation within the SC bloc based on the Sadashiva Commission’s report.
In the resolution, the Bommai cabinet had recommended a 5.5 percent quota for SC-Right, 6 percent for SC-Left, 4.5 percent for ‘touchables’, and 1 percent for ‘others’.
The resolution set off statewide protests, especially from Bhovis and Lambanis — another ‘touchable’ group. Both groups claimed such a move would limit their opportunities.
But several Dalit caste groups in the state say that the ‘touchables’ have cornered the biggest chunk of the state’s SC reservation.
A minister who is a member of the Holeya community told ThePrint that Muniyappa’s statements were unnecessary “since we (Congress) have already said that we will table the report in the upcoming session”. Holeyas are categorised as an SC-Right group.
But he added: “We feel that others (‘SC-Left’ and ‘Touchables’) have cornered most of the reservation benefits.”
‘Good intent, nothing malicious’
A Madiga leader who is also a senior office-bearer of the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee believes Muniyappa’s statements were “made with good intent and have no malicious connotations”.
This leader also felt that SC-Left castes had less representation in public spaces. As an example, he felt that the SC-Left did not have “even one vice-chancellor in any of the 34 public universities in Karnataka nor were there any other senior officials in government, police or other departments”.
“Reservation must be given according to the population of the respective caste groups,” the leader added.
Dasanur Kusanna, an expert on caste issues at the Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC), finds nothing wrong with Muniyappa’s speech.
Madigas, he said, are among the most oppressed groups in the state, having traditionally worked as manual scavengers or tanners.
“Politically, all parties have backstabbed the Madiga community. This section has lost out on reservation since the 1980s — denying them employment and education opportunities,” he said.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)