Centre speaking in 2 voices: K’taka defends caste survey

Karnataka government on Tuesday told the high court that the Union government was “speaking in two voices” as it defended the ongoing caste survey that has drawn criticism from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

- Ayesha Arvind

The state told the high court that while the Centre had itself “piloted the 105th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2021" to restore the power of state governments to identify and list backward classes, it was now opposing the survey because Karnataka was under a different political dispensation.

“Having brought about this amendment, the Centre now conveniently supports the petitioners simply because a different political party is in power in the state,” senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who appeared for the Karnataka government, told the court.

Singhvi reiterated before a bench of chief justice Vibhu Bakhru and justice CM Joshi that the exercise was not a “caste census” but a socioeconomic and educational survey, well within the state's legislative competence.