New Delhi, May 1: The Congress on Wednesday welcomed the government’s decision to include caste enumeration in the forthcoming census and demanded allocation of funds to start work at the earliest.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said the government should allocate funds to initiate caste census at the earliest with complete transparency, while former party chief Rahul Gandhi said the Centre should give a timeline to implement it.
Addressing a press conference, Gandhi credited the sustained campaign run by his party for the announcement and hoped it would not have the same fate as the women’s reservation bill.
He said the BJP has been opposing the caste census for 11 years and demanded that it should give a timeline.
The leader of opposition in Lok Sabha said the Congress will break the “barrier” of 50 per cent cap on reservations and demand the implementation of Article 15(5), which pertains to reservations in private educational institutions.
“We urge the government to implement Article 15(5) promptly,” he said.
Noting that it is the first step of a completely new development paradigm in the country, he said, “We are going to push this paradigm one way or the other.”
“It doesn’t matter what the BJP thinks. We have shown that we can pressure the BJP into doing the caste census,” Gandhi said at the presser.
He was flanked by Congress general secretaries K C Venugopal and Jairam Ramesh, Congress’ media and publicity department head Pawan Khera, AICC national coordinator of SC, ST, OBC and minorities department K Raju and OBC department head Anil Jaihind.
“We wholeheartedly welcome this decision but demand a clear implementation timeline,” Gandhi asserted, demanding announcement of a date and also budget allocation for it.
Later, in a post on X, Gandhi said, “It is clear that the pressure we put on the government for Caste Census has worked.”
“But we don’t intend to stop here: We will ensure they conduct a comprehensive and consultative census – a people’s census, not a bureaucratic census. We will continue to press for the removal of the arbitrary 50% cap on reservations. We will make sure they implement a central law for SC/ST Sub-plan and guarantee budget allocations. We will ensure Article 15(5) of the Constitution which promises reservation in private education is fully enacted.
“This is the will of the people of India and the Modi government has no option but to follow it,” he said in his post.
Gandhi claimed that Telangana serves as a model state for caste census and stressed that it should be a people’s census not bureaucrats’ census.
He said that having successfully conducted a comprehensive caste census in the state, “we suggest the national census incorporate some of its effective approaches”.
“Caste census is the first step, it is a way to open the door. After that the work of development will start,” he claimed.
Kharge hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, alleging that he had been “avoiding” the implementation of this policy of social justice while accusing the opposition of “dividing the society” on the lines of caste.
“The Congress Party demands that the Modi government make provisions for funds as soon as possible and start the work of census and caste census with complete transparency,” he said while asserting that caste enumeration is necessary since in the absence of participatory justice everyone’s progress remains incomplete.
Opposition parties, including the Congress, have been demanding a nationwide caste census, making it a major election issue. Some states like Bihar, Telangana and Karnataka have conducted such surveys.
Kharge said the Modi government has announced that it will conduct a caste census along with the census.
“This is the right step which we have been demanding from day one. I raised it multiple times in Parliament and also wrote a letter to the prime minister.
“The leaders of the INDIA bloc have also demanded caste census many times and this became an important issue in the Lok Sabha elections. Time and again, Modi ji kept avoiding implementing this policy of social justice and kept falsely accusing the opposition of dividing the society,” the Congress president said.
Stressing the need for a caste census for all sections of society, Kharge said that in the absence of such data, ensuring meaningful social justice and implementing empowerment programmes remain incomplete.
“There is an allocation of only Rs 575 crore for the census in this year’s budget. So it is appropriate to ask how and when the government will complete it,” he said.
Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said the party had raised the issue in its resolution on social justice, which was passed in Ahmedabad on April 9, 2025.
“Better late than never,” he said in a post in Hindi on X.
Ramesh also shared screen shots of the resolution ‘Nyaypath’ in which the party had listed its initiatives for achieving social justice.
Later, Ramesh also shared April 16, 2023 letter of Kharge to Prime Minister Modi in which he had demanded that the decennial census be carried out and a comprehensive caste census be made a part of it.
“On April 16 2023 – that is, over two years back – Congress President Shri Mallikarjun Kharge had written this letter to the PM. Need anything more be said?” he said.
Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said the people of the country have been demanding social justice through caste census for a long time.
She also credited Rahul Gandhi for voicing the concerns of people in getting a caste survey done.
“It is a victory of the people of the country and the commitment of Rahul Gandhi ji that today the central government has been forced to conduct caste census. The Congress party is committed to ensuring social justice and giving fair share to every section,” she said in a post on X.
Announcing the decision taken by the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Wednesday said the census comes under the purview of the Centre, but some states have done caste enumeration in the name of surveys “non-transparently” which has created doubts in the society. (PTI)
