Kharge, Rahul slam census format, warn of ‘misleading’ caste data
Congress leaders say open-ended caste census splits communities into thousands of names, harming OBC count and social justice policies; urge drop-down method.
Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha Leaders of Opposition, Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi respectively, have shot off a third letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over a “flaw” in the census survey. They allege that the open-ended question format to record caste information in the census is “misleading”.
The two Congress leaders have asserted that a correct assessment of the numbers and socio-economic status of different castes is only possible when the counting of castes is done accurately and without this accurate data, policies of social justice cannot be fulfilled.
Kharge and Gandhi have written that they do not accept the caste census being conducted in the current format, demanding that the government scrap the existing questionnaire for it and formulate a new one after consulting political parties, experts, and the general public. They have also urged the government to take a cue from the caste surveys done in Telangana and Bihar.
The problem with open-ended question
“Your government has chosen an open-ended question format to record caste information in the census, which is misleading. In this method, whatever name an individual provides for their caste will be recorded as it is,” the letter stated.
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“In India, a single caste is known by different names, sub-castes, and languages across various regions. In such a scenario, if people belonging to the same caste are recorded under different names during the census, then one caste will get split into thousands of names. Lakhs of caste names will emerge in the country, and the entire data obtained from the caste census will become useless,” they went on.
“When the correct number of any community is not even recorded, the assessment of its condition will also be flawed. This will cause harm to backward, extremely backward, and other deprived communities, and decisions related to education, employment, government schemes, and social justice will also be affected. Most importantly, this will not even reveal the population size of OBCs in India, because the phrase ‘Backward Class’ is not even included in this census.”
The suggested solution
The duo suggested that the solution lay in a drop-down list as adopted during the caste survey in Telangana and Bihar, enclosing copies of the caste lists from the Telangana Caste Survey 2024 and the Bihar Caste Survey 2022.
“The same method is adopted during the enumeration of Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST). This list can be easily prepared based on existing government lists—such as the Socially and Educationally Backward Classes list and the Anthropological Survey of India,” they wrote.
“We do not accept a caste census being conducted in this manner. The government should cancel the current questionnaire and draft a new one after consulting with political parties, experts, and the public, so that the accurate number of every caste and community comes to light, making the caste census precise, meaningful, and beneficial,” the letter concluded.
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Three letters, no reply
Briefing reporters on the letter written in Hindi by Kharge and Rahul on August 20, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said the government's current efforts towards a caste census are just a "whitewash".
Ramesh said this is the third letter written by the Congress leadership to Modi over the issue but have not received any reply. Kharge wrote the first letter way back in 2023 and sent a second one on May 5, 2025, which also included some constructive suggestions. But no response has been received to either of these two letters so far.