Explained: How Bommai-Led BJP Government Deftly Navigated Caste Cauldron To Reconfigure Reservation Matrix In Karnataka

In what is being viewed as a politically astute manoeuvring ahead of the upcoming Karnataka Legislative Assembly elections, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government has abolished a religion-based reservation.

It has done away with 4 per cent reservation given to Muslims in Karnataka under 2B of Other Backward Classes (OBC) category, and distributed it to two politically influential communities — Veerashaiva-Lingayats and Vokkaligas — at 2 per cent each in jobs and admissions in educational institutions.

The decision to reconfigure the complex reservation matrix was taken in what is likely to be the last cabinet meeting of the BJP government in the state led by Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai.

The state cabinet also decided that the Muslim community in the state can now avail of benefits under the 10 per cent quota for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS).

Given that over 90 per cent of social groups in the state are already under the purview of caste-based reservation, the state government faced a challenge in operationalising the EWS quota in the state.

Briefing the media on the cabinet decision, Bommai pointed out that the Andhra Pradesh High Court had struck down the principle of reservation based on religion.

He added that B R Ambedkar, chairman of the drafting committee of the Constitution, had said the reservation has to be based on caste and not religion. 

In December 2022, Bommai-led BJP government approved the creation of new categories of 2C and 2D for Vokkaligas and Veerashaiva-Lingayats respectively, based on the interim report submitted by the Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes.

The move was seen as a precursor to addressing the demands of the two communities.

In March 2021, the Karnataka government formed a panel under former high court judge Justice Subhash B Adi to examine a framework for accommodating reservation demands within the prevailing reservation matrix in the state.

Vokkaligas will now get a 6 per cent reservation under the 2C category, and Lingayats will get a 7 per cent reservation under the 2D category, Chief Minister Bommai said after the cabinet meeting.

The decision by the state cabinet on Friday will not increase the overall OBC quota in the state, which currently stands at 32 per cent with close to 207 castes spread across five sub-categories.

In October 2022, state governor Thawarchand Gehlot approved an ordinance by the Bommai-led government to hike the reservation for Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) communities. Reservation for SC was increased from 15 to 17 per cent and ST from 3 to 7 per cent.

After the increase in quota for SC/ST, OBCs have a quota of 32 per cent (for 207 castes spread across five categories), SCs have a quota of 17 per cent for 101 castes, and STs have a quota of 7 per cent (for 50 tribes in the state). The state will shortly notify the rules regarding the EWS quota.

After the cabinet decision on Friday, the reservation matrix is as follows:

• Category 1 (Backward Classes) 4 per cent (Ambalakaran, Bavandhi, Byaragi, Gowrimatha, Kolimahadev, Bhomptra, Salaparu, Mansuri caste etc.)

The state cabinet also recast the internal reservation formula for the 17 per cent quota for around 101 groups classified as SC. The SC (left) category, which consists of 29 communities, including Madigas, will get 6 per cent of the quota, whereas the SC (right) with around 25 communities such as Holeyas, will get 5.5 per cent.

'Touchable communities' such as Banjaras and Bhovis will have 4.5 per cent of the quota, and other communities in the category will get the remaining 1 per cent.

Demands By Various Communities

In the run-up to the state assembly elections, various communities ratcheted up demand to either hike reservation or alter their reservation status in Karnataka.

Led by seers and politicians across party lines, the politically influential Vokkaliga community has been mounting pressure on the state government to increase its quota from 4 to 12 per cent in the overall OBC reservation matrix.

In November 2022, a massive gathering of prominent seers, ministers, legislators, leaders and members held at Kuvempu Kalakshetra in Vokkaligara Sangha premises in Bengaluru passed a unanimous resolution urging the government to hike the reservation to safeguard the community's interests.

Currently, the Vokkaligas community is categorised under the 3A category bloc of OBC reservation. A 4 per cent quota is earmarked for the 3A category. The community leaders argue that about 2.5 per cent of this quota has to be shared with other communities under the 3A category.

While the Vokkaliga population is more than 16 per cent in the state, the community reservation stands at a paltry 4 per cent, which is unfair, the community leaders argued.

The gathering urged the state government to consider the feasibility of extending the recently enacted 10 per cent reservation quota for EWS to the Vokkaligas living in urban areas of the city.

A few leaders from the community also demanded that all the sub-castes within the community be included in the OBC list, and an increase in the share of the caste group in the reservation pool commensurate with the higher numbers of the community in the OBC population.

The sub-castes within the Vokkaliga community include Sarpa Vokkaliga, Vakkaliga, Hallikar Vokkaliga, Namdhari Vokkaliga, Gangadkar Vokkaliga, Das Vokkaliga, Reddy Vokkaliga, Marasu Vokkaliga, Gouda, Gowda, Kunchatiga, Kaapu, Heggade, Kamma, Reddy, Goundar, Namadhari Gowda, Uppina Kolaga and Uttama Kola.

"Not all 115 sub-sects of the Vokkaliga community have been included under OBC. As a result, many sub-sects are deprived of government benefits. All sub-sects must be included under OBC and we must campaign for this," an influential seer from the community said.

Panchamasalis, a powerful Lingayat sub-sect that forms the bulwark of BJP's support base in the state, has been seeking 2A status in the OBC reservation category.

Panchamasalis are in the 3B category (which has 5 per cent reservation for 41 castes and mainly includes Lingayat sub-sects), and the community leaders argue that moving them to the 2A category (which has 15 per cent reservation for 102 castes) will enable them to gain from the much larger reserved pool.

A section of the Kuruba community (from which former chief minister and Congress senior leader Siddharamiah hails) is running a campaign demanding that they be recategorised as ST.

Kurubas constitute the third-largest caste group in the state after the Lingayat and Vokkaliga communities. Prominent ministers and legislators from the community, including M T B Nagaraj, A H Vishwanath and Byrathi Basavaraj have endorsed the community's demand for the ST tag. 

Valmiki-Nayakas, an influential ST community, also renewed its demand for increasing the quantum of the ST quota from 3 per cent to 7.5 per cent.

Even numerically smaller communities like Savitha Samaj and Uppara castes also demanded hikes in the reservation.