Bengaluru, 6 September

Former chief minister Siddaramaiah called for increasing the reservation for Dalits, backward communities and minorities to 75 per cent, saying an egalitarian society could not be achieved without equal opportunities based on population.

"If all of you are to get social justice, there must be at least 75 per cent reservation. Dalits, backward communities and minorities--all of them must get 75 per cent," he said Karnataka State Backward Castes Federation's Silver Jubilee celebration in Benglauru.

Only when everyone gets reservation according to their caste and according to their population will it be possible to create an egalitarian society, he said, adding that similar reservation based on caste and population in the Lok Sabha and Legislative Assembly is necessary to achieve political equality.

Siddaramaiah said the caste survey report conducted during his tenure as chief minister should be implemented.

Siddaramaiah said that a court order was currently preventing the report submitted by the Backward Classes Commission headed by Madhusudan Naik from being made public or implemented. Siddaramaiah aid that he had accepted the report before demitting office as chief minister, and that he asked federation president Ramachandrappa to get the court order lifted. 

The survey was necessary as there were no accurate figures on the population of backward communities, making it difficult to argue cases for representation, he said. 

He recalled that he had ordered a survey when he became chief minister in 2013, but the report was not completed during his tenure. He alleged that the subsequent BJP government did not accept the report.

"As long as the caste system exists in society, as long as an equal society is not created and as long as equal opportunities are not provided to everyone, the struggle must continue,” he said.

Siddaramaiah said the federation represented 752 of the State's 806 backward communities and argued that other categories, including 2B, 3A and 3B, should also be brought into the fold.

He also criticised the current electoral system, saying it had become "very expensive", meaning that for a person to stand today, “compromises have to be made”. That is why I stepped away from electoral politics, he added.