Caste census from Sept. 22 to Oct. 7

Mysuru: BJP OBC Morcha State President R. Raghu Kautilya has accused the Congress Government of promoting religious conversion under the guise of the upcoming Socio-Economic and Educational Survey, popularly known as the caste census, scheduled to begin on Sept. 22.

Addressing a press conference at a private hotel yesterday, after holding discussions with leaders of various backward castes, Raghu stated that backward communities have no objection to the caste census being conducted by the Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes.

Conspiracy angle

“We strongly oppose the recently released list, where several Hindu castes have been falsely linked to Christianity. The Government published a list of 1,400 castes in major newspapers, in which 47 Hindu castes were appended with the label ‘Christian.’ This is deeply concerning for backward communities,” he said.

Raghu added that the Commission has failed to provide clear answers on who added the Christian tag to Hindu castes and sub-castes, and when these classifications were approved, fuelling suspicions of deliberate attempts at religious conversion.

‘Mathaantara Bhagya’

Citing examples such as Kuruba Christian, Madiwala Christian, Vokkaliga Christian, Brahmin Christian, Akkasaliga Christian, Bestha Christian, Billava Christian, Devanga Christian, Ediga Christian, Nekara Christian and Vishwakarma Christian, Raghu claimed, “This is a clear plot to encourage the religious conversion of Hindus to Christianity. It also appears to be part of a conspiracy to deprive genuine backward classes of reservation benefits and mislead the public.”

He further alleged that the State Government rushed the caste census to appease certain groups and introduce a scheme akin to ‘Mathaantara Bhagya’ (religious conversion scheme).

“The Government seems intent on dismantling the foundation of Hindu society and eroding the roots of Hinduism. Hindu organisations will launch a massive agitation to counter these conspiracies,” Raghu declared, urging the Backward Classes Commission to immediately remove non-existent Hindu castes and sub-castes from the list.

Leaders from several communities, including Shylendra, Yashaswini Somashekar, P. Prashanth Gowda, Channakeshavashetty, Vidyasagar Kadamba, Rashmi, Mahendra, Prakash, Satish Kumar, Lokesh, Madashetty, Praveen Shetty, Raju, Manjunath Prasad, Purushottam, Jagadish, Maniratnam, Suresh Babu, Girish, Upendra Kumar, S.S. Nataraj, Santosh Kumar, K. Harish, Yashwanth Singh and Maheshraje Urs, were present.