Echoing Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s call for a clear roadmap, Congress MP Jairam Ramesh criticizes the PM for just providing a “headline without a deadline”
Our Bureau
New Delhi
All of a sudden on Wednesday, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, announced the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs’ decision to include caste enumeration in the forthcoming national census. “While some states have conducted surveys to enumerate castes, these surveys have varied in transparency and intent, with some conducted purely from a political angle, creating doubts in society. Considering all these circumstances, and to ensure that our social fabric does not come under political pressure, it has been decided that caste enumeration should be included in the main census instead of being conducted as a separate survey,” Vaishnaw said.
Bihar, Karnataka, and Telangana have already conducted a caste census in their respective state. Telangana has passed a bill to implement a 42 per cent backwards class reservation for people in the state.
Leaders of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) on Wednesday welcomed the Union Cabinet’s decision to include caste enumeration in the forthcoming national census. Union Minister Chirag Paswan took to X to express his support for the move. “An important decision was taken in the national interest by approving the caste-based census in the Union Cabinet meeting chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji today. I and my party had been demanding for a long time that a caste-based census be conducted in the country, today this demand has been accepted. For this, I express my heartfelt gratitude to the popular Prime Minister of the country,” Chirag said.
Caste enumeration was a regular feature of census exercises during British rule from 1881 to 1931. However, after independence, the practice was discontinued except for Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs). The last attempt at collecting caste data at a national level was in 2011 through the Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC), but the findings were never fully released or utilized.
Jumping into the issue, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said on Wednesday that the party supports the government’s decision to conduct caste enumeration during the forthcoming population census, but it should specify a timeline.
Addressing a press conference here, Rahul Gandhi, who is the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, said Telangana has provided a model for conducting caste census and it can provide a blueprint for the exercise at the national level.
He said the Congress has been demanding a caste census and the government had “suddenly after 11 years” taken this decision. “We had said in the Parliament that we will make Caste Census happen. We had also said that we would scrap the 50% cap, the artificial wall that is in place. Narendra Modi used to say that there are just four castes. Don’t know what happened but suddenly after 11 years, Caste Census has been announced,” Rahul Gandhi said.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday welcomed the government’s decision to conduct a caste census, calling it a significant step towards establishing social justice. According to Yadav, this move is a major victory for the PDA (Pichhda, Dalit, Alpsankhyak) and a result of collective pressure from various groups.
Addressing a press conference, Yadav said, “The government has just taken a decision. We are happy that a step has been taken towards establishing social justice. The decision of caste census is a 100% victory of 90% PDA people. Due to the combined pressure from all of us, the BJP government has been forced to take this decision. This is an important step in the victory of PDA in the fight for social justice…”
But Vaishnaw said the move falls under the central government’s authority and will be executed transparently. Vaishnaw also criticised previous Congress-led governments for avoiding a caste census and accused them of using the issue for political gain. He added that the Modi-led government’s decision aligns with constitutional principles and will help strengthen the social and economic fabric.
However, Congress MP Pramod Tiwari on Thursday described the Centre’s decision to include caste-based census with national census as a “victory” for the persistent efforts of party leader Rahul Gandhi and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge.
He accused the BJP of attempting to delay the process but said Congress remained committed to ensuring justice for every section of society. “This is the victory of Rahul Gandhi. This is the victory of the proposal passed by Mallikarjun Kharge on April 9… BJP is still not revealing the deadline. It is a ground reality that they have to do the caste census… They are still trying to run away from this, but Congress is resolved to bring justice to every section of the society… I believe this is the victory of the tireless efforts of Congress…,” he said.
Meanwhile, NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal on Thursday welcomed the Union government’s decision to conduct a caste census along with the decadal census, calling it a long-pending demand since 1992. He added that the move will ensure that OBCs, Dalits, and Adivasis receive funds and support.
Bhujbal said, “This is a very good thing. We have been demanding this since 1992… It is good that this time the decision has been taken, and now just like Dalits and Adivasis get funds, OBCs will also start getting funds.”
Census is a Union subject under Article 246 of the Constitution, listed at item 69 in the Union List of the Seventh Schedule.
Union Minister Chirag Paswan alleged that the Congress party used the caste census as a political weapon to incite people’s sentiments stating that if they wanted to do a caste-based census so badly, they should have done it earlier.
“Today, Rahul Gandhi wants to take credit for this, saying that this happened under my pressure. Your party’s government remained in the centre for a long time. Leave the party aside, there have been three Prime Ministers from your family. If you wanted a caste-based census in the country so badly, then you should have got it done earlier. But you used it as a political weapon and only worked to incite people’s sentiments,” Paswan said, speaking to mediapersons here.
The Union Minister further applauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi for introducing the system.
“Today, our government has fulfilled this demand. My Prime Minister is known for taking the right decisions at the right time. The opposition is saying that we have taken this decision in view of the Bihar elections, but if this decision had to be taken from the point of view of elections, then we would have taken this decision before the Lok Sabha elections…” he added.
He further added that several important issues on national security had to be worked upon, and assured that the PM would take all decisions based on the sentiments of the country.
Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya on Thursday launched a scathing attack on the Opposition parties for claiming credit for the Centre’s decision to conduct a caste census. Maurya said, ” Opposition ….whatever they say, but they had enough time when they were in power….10 years, Rahul Gandhi ran the Manmohan Singh govt at the Centre, Akhilesh Yadav backed Congress led government, RJD also backed Congress led govt but none of them did anything for backward people.”
Maurya further lauded PM Modi as one who works for the backward classes and various communities. “PM Modi is the one who worked for backward class people…he has done a lot of work for various communities…”, he said.
Earlier in the day, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde also welcomed the Union Cabinet’s decision to include a caste census in the upcoming national census. He said that this will truly open the doors to social justice.
Shinde described the decision as “historic.”
“Yesterday’s decision is historic for all the people of the country…people who belong to backwards classes can be brought to the mainstream…everybody will get justice from this…Shiv Sena welcomes this decision,” he said.
On Tuesday, Maurya criticised Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav, claiming that in the 2027 Assembly elections, the public would make the “Samajwadi Party” a “Samaptwadi Party.”
Echoing Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s call for a clear roadmap and timeline for the caste enumeration in the forthcoming census, Congress MP Jairam Ramesh on Thursday criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for just providing a “headline without a deadline.”
“Like what Rahul Gandhi said yesterday, ‘headline toh de diya, lekin deadline kaha hai?’ Our PM is an expert in giving headlines without deadlines. He said that caste will be involved, and Rahul Gandhi asked for a roadmap for it… We have been asking for it for the last six years,” he said.
Addressing a press conference, Ramesh questioned the government’s intent and preparedness, pointing to inadequate budget allocations for the operation and a lack of clarity on implementation details.
He highlighted discrepancies in funding, noting that the budget allocated to the census commissioner’s office for this year was Rs 575 crore, which contradicts PM Modi’s 2019 claim of requiring Rs 8254 crore for the national census.
“In 2025-26, the census commissioner’s office in the Home Ministry, which has been given the responsibility of conducting the caste census, was allocated Rs 575 crore in the budget. But on 24 December 2019, PM Narendra Modi’s government said that Rs 8254 crore is required for the national census… So, what is the purpose and the intent? Only a headline? No details. No Budget… This is the reality,” he stated.
