Bengaluru: A day ahead of the crucial Cabinet meeting to discuss the caste census, officially known as the Socio-Economic and Education Survey 2015, caste associations representing two of the state’s most influential communities have openly expressed their dissatisfaction, faulting the survey for allegedly undercounting their population.

The protesting groups – Rajya Vokkaligara Sangha and the Akhila Bharata Veerashaiva Lingayat Mahasabha – have both announced that they will carry out surveys of their respective communities. They even threatened massive agitations against the Siddaramaiah government if the census report is approved. Shankar Bidari, head of the Akhila Bharata Veerashaiva Lingayat Mahasabha, said the Mahasabha would carry out its survey through its units in all 236 taluks.

A former IPS officer, Shankar Bidari detailed the type of questions that their survey would cover. These would include information about assets such as number of family members, number of children in a family, their education levels, house ownership, land ownership, employment, information about Aadhar card, voter id card etc. Similarly, B Kenchappa Gowda, president of the Vokkaligara Sangha, said that they would conduct their own survey.

These developments have occurred ahead of the Cabinet meeting to discuss the caste census on Thursday. The state government accepted the survey 10 years after it was submitted to the government by the Backward Classes Commission headed by H Kantharaj in 2015.

The state government announced on April 11, that it had accepted the report and that the cabinet would discuss its findings on April 17.

This set off a flurry of developments with the two caste associations repeating their claims that the caste census is “unscientific” and that their communities have been undercounted.