Is Caste Census Push Siddaramaiah Sarkar's Smokescreen For Chinnaswamy Stampede?

Last Updated:June 11, 2025, 09:08 IST

Political analysts said by focusing on caste census, the government was trying to deflect attention from charges of corruption and mishandling that led to the stampede

Both CM Siddaramaiah and deputy CM DK Shivakumar rushed to Delhi to brief the Congress high command on damage control over the Bengaluru tragedy and a way forward on caste census data. (PTI)

Is the Karnataka government using the caste census re-enumeration as a distraction from the Chinnaswamy Stadium stampede that left 11 dead and over 50 injured?

As the Siddaramaiah government tries to steer public attention towards caste data and social justice, the timing is impossible to ignore. The Chinnaswamy stampede has dented the Congress government’s credibility and administrative image. Whether this renewed push for caste enumeration is an effort to ensure inclusivity or a tactical deflection from a governance failure is a question political voices in Karnataka are now asking aloud.

Just days after firefighting public outrage over the mishandling of the IPL celebration event, the Siddaramaiah government has shifted focus to a long-pending issue—the caste census report, which will now be discussed at the cabinet meeting scheduled for June 12.

Both chief minister Siddaramaiah and deputy CM DK Shivakumar rushed to Delhi to brief the Congress high command on two fronts—damage control over the Bengaluru tragedy and a way forward on the contentious caste census data. What emerged from the Delhi meeting was a sudden push for re-enumeration, effectively revisiting the caste survey first commissioned in 2015 during Siddaramaiah’s first tenure.

While the Congress insists this move is to address complaints of exclusion and underrepresentation in the earlier survey, senior officials who have worked closely with the project question the timing and motive. “This is clearly deflection tactics. The caste survey has been delayed and dragged long enough. From the time it was conducted, to when it was tabled, and now back under discussion. The fact that Congress leaders in Delhi have asked for a reassessment shows they’re shifting focus away from the Chinnaswamy mishap," said a senior official in the know of the developments.

Confusion reigns even among those involved in the survey. Some officials say the Congress has accepted the 2015 report “in principle", while simultaneously planning a re-survey. “Why spend another Rs 200–250 crore of public money?" one official asked.

At the Delhi meeting, attended by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi, Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar, the leadership agreed to go ahead with a re-enumeration exercise within a timeframe of 60–90 days. AICC general secretary KC Venugopal told the media that the process would be fast-tracked and that the party was keen to ensure all sections felt included.

Former Backward Classes Commission chairman CS Dwarakanath questioned how the census will be conducted, given that now it is in the submission stage where it has to be debated in the cabinet.

“It is a marathon exercise that requires over one lakh people to be involved," he said. “Rs 167 crore was spent on the caste survey, and if it needs to be conducted again, then it would require more funds and also needs to be done scientifically—including an ethnographic study, collection of empirical data, and gathering of secondary sources of information. All this has to be done in a scientific manner, but would it be possible to do all this in a timeframe of 60–90 days?" he questioned.

A senior official connected with the caste census report offered a more nuanced view. “There are two parallel ideas at play. On one hand, the party has accepted the report’s recommendations in principle. But since the original data is now nearly a decade old, and a caste census is ideally conducted every ten years, there’s also a strong argument to refresh the numbers. Let’s wait till the cabinet decision."

However, the stampede incident was also discussed. Venugopal said the state government had briefed the party about the June 4 stampede at the Chinnaswamy Stadium during Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s IPL victory celebration. “We are deeply concerned about every human life. The government has already ordered a judicial probe," he said. However, both the party and Siddaramaiah himself have distanced themselves from the specifics of the tragedy, with the chief minister stating he wasn’t involved in organising the event and had been informed late about the crowd surge.

Meanwhile, Shivakumar said the re-survey will be done in a way that no community feels side-lined. “Those who felt left out earlier will be given another opportunity," he said, adding that the cabinet would plan the re-enumeration process to ensure fair representation for all.

The original 2015 caste survey had triggered major political friction. Once submitted formally this April, the report deepened rifts between dominant communities like the Vokkaligas and Veerashaiva-Lingayats and various OBC groups.

It proposed restructuring the existing five caste categories into six and suggested scrapping creamy layer exemptions for castes in Category 1, the most backward. This didn’t go down well within the Congress either, with Vokkaliga and Lingayat leaders alleging their communities were undercounted.

The Congress government had also launched a parallel initiative for internal reservation among Scheduled Castes. On May 5, the state began a fresh enumeration of 101 SC sub-castes, involving over 65,000 schoolteachers and data collection camps. The process is aimed at restructuring reservation within SCs—similar to the model adopted by Congress-ruled Telangana—to ensure more equitable distribution of benefits among the most disadvantaged groups.

Justice HN Nagamohan Das, who heads the internal reservation panel, flagged challenges with this door-to-door survey. Many poor households were unwilling to reveal their sub-castes or were unaware of them entirely.

So far, the internal reservation survey has covered 19.55 lakh of the estimated 25.72 lakh SC households. Special camps were held between May 26 and 28 to cover more ground. The commission aims to complete the process soon and submit its report within two months.

The caste census has long been a political minefield in Karnataka. The Congress has faced repeated flak over delays in tabling the report and pushing back cabinet-level discussions. Siddaramaiah had earlier said the recommendations of the Backward Classes Commission would be implemented, but his remarks were met with sharp resistance from dominant communities.

Political analyst Sandeep Shastri said: “It clearly is deflection tactics. By focusing on this, you are trying to deflect attention from the charges of corruption and the mishandling—and refusal to take political accountability—in the recent Chinnaswamy Stadium stampede."

“It also represents the multiple layers of contradictions the Congress party and its cabinet face. We have a chief minister who wants to focus on the empowerment of the non-dominant OBCs and the presence of dormant caste groups and their representatives who cannot let down their communities," he added.

He also pointed out that the decision taken by the government—by letting heads roll in the police force—has long-term ramifications. “In the process, you’ve done something that can be damaging in the long term by demoralising the police force, fixing accountability on them, and suspending All India Services officers. That has never happened in any state," Shastri said.

He recalled how former Karnataka chief minister Bangarappa had once suspended the Karnataka chief secretary for calling him “inefficient", but such a move against the police is unheard of. The move on the caste census, he said, is clearly meant to shift focus away from this political mismanagement.

News politics Is Caste Census Push Siddaramaiah Sarkar's Smokescreen For Chinnaswamy Stampede?