Misleading Method For Caste Census: Rahul Gandhi, M Kharge Write To PM Modi

Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge and senior party leader and the Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi have written a joint letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, raising questions about the caste census process and the absence of a separate OBC column for enumerating the backward classes in the relevant questionnaire.

In the letter, they have contended that the current method will fail to reveal the actual size of India's OBC population. 

Sharing the letter on social media, Kharge emphasised that a caste census should not merely be conducted, but it must be conducted correctly.

"Your government has chosen a misleading method for recording caste information in the census," the two leaders wrote, elucidating the pitfalls of the process being followed.

"Under this approach, whatever name an individual provides for their caste will be recorded as-is. In India, the same caste is known by different names, sub-castes, and languages across different regions. Consequently, if members of the same caste are recorded under different names, a single caste could end up fragmented into thousands of names. This would result in a list of hundreds of thousands of caste names, rendering the entire dataset obtained from the caste census useless," the letter read.

The Leaders of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha demanded that the government scrap the existing caste census questionnaire and draft a new one after consulting political parties, experts, and the public -- ensuring an accurate count of every caste and community.

Suggesting that the government create a 'drop-down' list of castes, Rahul Gandhi and Kharge noted that such a list could easily be compiled based on existing government lists - such as those for Socially and Educationally Backward Classes and data from the Anthropological Survey of India. 

Attaching the caste lists used in the surveys conducted in Telangana and Bihar, the Congress leaders pointed out that the same methodology had been employed there.

Releasing the letter at a press conference, Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh alleged that the Centre has no real intention of conducting a caste census and described the current situation as a "deception". He accused the government of deliberately attempting to put the caste census on the back burner.

Two weeks ago, the Centre had released a list of 40 questions for the 2027 census. 

The tenth question pertains to caste and includes a drop-down list for SC/ST categories, while an open-ended format has been adopted for others. 

There is a demand for the inclusion of a drop-down list for the OBC category as well. 

A few days ago, while addressing an event organised by the Congress party's OBC department, Rahul Gandhi made a significant statement, asserting that if the OBC community took to the streets -- much like "Gen Z students" -- the government will be forced to yield.