Siddaramaiah all set to relaunch AHINDA movement in Karnataka ahead of 2023 polls

The former Karnataka Chief Minister and leader of Opposition, Siddaramaiah, is determined to relaunch the AHINDA movement across the state ahead of local rural body elections. The Congress officials stated that Siddaramaiah is set to launch the movement to emerge as the leader of minorities ahead of the next Karnataka Legislative Assembly election, which is scheduled to be held in or before May 2023 to elect 224 members in the state's Assembly.

The flagbearers of the AHINDA movement in its first leg were former ministers HC Mahadevappa and CM Ibrahim; the duo on August 13 demanded that the caste census of Karnataka must be made public after they reportedly met with Congress leader Siddaramaiah. 

AHINDA is an acronym for Alpasankhyataru (Minorities), Hindulidavaru (Marginalised Classes), or Dalitaru (Dalits). The political terminology was coined by Karnataka's first backward class leader Devraj Ur, later reinvigorated by Siddaramaiah. In 2013, state Assembly polls, the AHINDA movement had steered Congress to a decisive victory; however, in 2018 polls, the strategy did not prove worthy for the Indian National Congress as other facts decided the sway. 

While Siddaramaiah served as the CM of Karnataka, the government undertook the second-ever caste census in the country in post-independence. Reports suggest that the census struck controversies after a finding that a certain community made up the second largest population of the whole state instead of the expected, Lingayat community. Also, the report has never been made public or presented before the State Legislative Assembly, albeit spending purported Rs 168 crore on the strategy.

AHINDA reports never disclosed 

Stating that the reports mainly were incomplete during his CM Office tenure, Siddaramaiah demanded why CM Yediyurappa-led government never presented or released the report publicly or at Assembly. 

"I support the release of the report," Siddaramaiah had said.

He added that the office bearer of most backward castes awareness forum had advised Congress to move the court as the census includes information of all categories of people. 

"The communities need to know where they stand," he added.

Congress sources claim that the caste census will enumerate the population of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes to be higher than the expectedly dominant castes in Karnataka, Lingayat and Vokkaliga. As a leader of backward classes, Siddaramaiah intends to assemble and note the support of communities by resuming the AHINDA movement in a full-fledged scope ahead of the 2023 Assembly polls to establish his potential CM repute probably.

Image Credit: PTI