HYDERABAD: The Congress government in Telangana appears to have stirred a hornet's nest with the party coming under flak from not just the opposition parties and some caste groups but also from within its ranks.
By conducting the caste survey in line with its leader Rahul Gandhi's slogan of 'Jis ki jitni abadi uska utna haq', Congress wanted to project Telangana as a role model and politically cash on it in the upcoming local body elections. However, going by the reaction from various quarters to the outcome of this exercise, the ruling party seems to have created more problems for itself.
The government came under attack over caste survey findings from opposition Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for alleged decline in the population of Backward Classes (BCs) since 2014.
They demanded the government to clarify how the population of BCs came down to 56.33 per cent (including Muslim BCs) from 61 per cent in an integrated household survey conducted in 2014 by the then BRS government.
Terming the caste survey "a historic achievement", the government called a special session of the State Legislature to declare its findings but the opposition turned the tables by highlighting the decline in the BC population and questioning the government's commitment to BC welfare.
In more embarrassment to the ruling party, its own MLC Teenmaar Mallanna publicly called the caste survey report and burnt its copy. Though the legislator has been issued a show-cause notice by the party, the damage has already been done as his action led to more voices raising doubts about the authenticity of caste survey statistics.
Both BRS and BJP are cornering Congress to derive political mileage over the issue. BRS working president K. T. Rama Rao wrote a letter to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, calling the caste survey report "misleading, incomplete and erroneous".
Citing the data from the 2014 survey, the BRS leader said the BC population in the state was 1 crore 85 lakh amounting to about 51 percent of the total population. When the minority BC population was also taken into consideration, the percentage was 61 per cent.
"From 1 crore 85 lakh, the BC population according to the latest caste census is currently recorded as 1 core 64 lakh. This latest data puts BCs down to 46 per cent from 51 per cent in 2014. How did the BC population see such a steep decline, " he asked
BJP leader and Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Bandi Sanjay accused the Congress of deliberately reducing the BC population percentage in caste enumeration and adding Muslims to the BC list. Adding Muslims to the BC list is part of a larger conspiracy to suppress BCs, he alleged.
The BJP has been strongly opposing four per cent reservation for Muslims. The backward groups among Muslims enjoy four per cent reservation in education and employment.
The caste survey report has sparked a fresh debate on Muslim reservation though the Congress maintains that the fresh statistics have reinforced the legal standing of the 4 percent reservation for Muslims.
"The caste survey has provided strong evidence to protect four per cent Muslim reservation, " says government advisor and senior Congress leader Mohammed Ali Shabbir.
According to the report of the Socio-Economic, Education, Employment, Political and Caste Survey or in short case survey, Muslims constitute 12.56 per cent of Telangana’s population and of them more than 10 per cent are BCs.
The BCs account for 56.33 per cent of the state’s population, of whom 10.08 per cent are BC Muslims. The remaining 2.48 per cent are Other Caste (OC) Muslims.
As per the survey, which covered 96.9 per cent population (3, 54, 77, 554 people), 17.43 per cent of the population are Scheduled Castes (SCs), 10.45 per cent of Scheduled Tribes (STs) and 13.31 per cent OCs.
Following the caste survey report, the opposition also started mounting pressure on Congress to fulfil its poll promise of 42 per cent reservation for BCs in local body elections.
During the 2023 Assembly elections, Congress released a 'BC declaration' promising to increase BC reservation based on caste census.
The Congress also promised to increase BC reservations to 42 per cent from the existing 23 per cent in local bodies to provide 23, 973 new political leadership positions for BCs in panchayats and municipalities.
Referring to Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy’s statement in the Assembly that enhancing total reservation for all social groups beyond 50 per cent requires Constitutional amendment, the opposition slammed him for passing on the buck to the Central government.
Along with a statement on the caste survey, the Congress government also tabled in the Assembly a report of the one-man Judicial Commission on sub-categorisation of SCs to implement the Supreme Court order.
The Commission headed by retired High Court judge Justice Shameem Akhtar recommended sub-classification of SCs into three sub-categories for equitable implementation of 15 percent reservation.
The Commission divided 59 SC communities into three groups based on social, economic and educational status.
Madiga community, whose leader Manda Krishna Madiga has been spearheading the movement for sub-categorisation of SCs for reservation, has been included in the second group for which the Commission has recommended nine per cent reservation.
Manda Krishna Madiga, however, rejected the report and demanded 11 per cent quota for Madigas in proportion to their population among SCs.
Terming the report unfair, the Madiga Reservation Porata Samiti (MRPS) founder said it did not reflect the true population ratio or backwardness of SC sub-groups.
He also demanded the removal of Health Minister Damodar Raja Narasimha from the Cabinet for being silent on "injustice to Madigas". He also wants the government to include two ministers from the community in the Cabinet.
Following the caste survey, the Congress party is also coming under pressure from various groups to provide them due representation in the Cabinet.
The Cabinet expansion has been pending for more than a year and there are already strong demands from BCs, Muslims, SCs and STs to accommodate them.
Revanth Reddy and his 11 Cabinet colleagues had taken oath on December 7, 2023. The state can have a maximum of 18 ministers including the Chief Minister.
There is no Muslim in the Cabinet while there are two ministers each from OBCs and SCs and one from ST.