New Delhi: In 2024 Parliament polls, Rahul Gandhi began championing his ‘Jitni Abadi Utna Haq’ mantra — a populist promise to give political representation proportionate to community population — he was aiming to rewrite the caste calculus in Indian politics. Telangana obliged him with a smooth rollout. Karnataka, however, has turned out to be a political minefield.

The trigger? A long-delayed socio-economic survey — Karnataka’s caste census — originally commissioned by CM Siddaramaiah during his previous tenure (2013–18) and shelved in political limbo until it resurfaced this year. Now, it’s become a lit match in a volatile political atmosphere. One of the office bearers of the apex body of Vokkaligas, Vokkaligara Sangh, has threatened to bring down the government if the cabinet went ahead to accept the report and implement the same. Not to be left behind, Lingayats too gave threatening signals, with Mr Shamanoor Shivashankarappa, the president of Akhila Bharat Veerashaiva Mahasabha and one of the close friends of AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge, warning that without Lingayats, the government could not be run.

Two reasons might have worked behind the decision to implement the caste census report. First is the nudging of Leader of opposition In Lok Sabha and Congress’ poster boy, Rahul Gandhi to implement the caste census report and the other one is Mr Siddaramaiah’s political ambition. Mr Gandhi, since the 2024 Parliament elections, has been pushing for the agenda of Jitni Abadi Utana Haq, which means giving rights and powers to people proportionate to their community size. He might have realised two things between 2014 and now. Gandhis are no longer vote catchers across the country and the Congress party, with its left-to-the-centre ideology could not emerge as a strong opponent to the BJP. So, he is keen to disrupt the existing political calculus and bring a new one to his advantage and the one that he had found was the caste census........

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