Congress’s allegation on the central government – the outline of the caste census is still unclear

Dharamshala 30 April. Congress has alleged that even though the BJP government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has agreed to conduct the caste census after procrastination, till now no clear policy has come out regarding the outline of how the census will be conducted. Jairam Ramesh, in-charge of Congress Communication Department, said on social media

Describing the change in the government’s stand on this issue as a ‘dramatic U-turn’, he mentioned the sequence of events and said that on July 21, 2021, Home Minister Amit Shah had said in the Lok Sabha that the government has decided not to conduct caste-based census as a policy. Then on September 21, 2021, the Central Government reiterated the same stand in the affidavit filed in the Supreme Court. According to Ramesh, on April 16, 2023, party president Mallikarjun Kharge had written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi demanding an updated caste census along with the regular census.

Despite this, in an interview on 28 April 2024, Modi had described this demand as inspired by ‘urban Naxal’ thinking. Ramesh said that exactly one year later, on April 30, 2025, the government announced the caste census, which makes it clear that the government’s stance is constantly changing. He demanded the Prime Minister to apologize for this statement and explain to the people of the country the reason for this change.

He also alleged that till now no meaningful dialogue has been held with either the opposition parties, nor the state governments nor the subject experts regarding the process of caste census. He said that no reply was given to the letter written by Kharge on May 5, 2025, while the issues raised in it are relevant even today. Citing the recently concluded special session of Parliament, Congress alleged that the government intends to postpone this important issue and the absence of a clear outline yet is an indication of this.