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(April 10, 2025) Opposition leaders in Parliament, Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi, have issued a sharp critique of the methodology for the caste count in the upcoming 2027 Census, calling it “misleading” and demanding its immediate withdrawal. In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi released on Thursday, the Congress leaders argued that the current questionnaire fails to record a headcount of Other Backward Classes (OBCs) because the term “OBC” itself is not mentioned anywhere in the census form.
The controversy stems from the notification of the Census questionnaire earlier this year. Kharge and Gandhi pointed out that the government has adopted an “open-ended question” for collecting caste information, where enumerators will simply record whatever a person says about their caste. “A caste is known by different names and sub-castes depending on the region. This will result in one caste being recorded under thousands of names, leading to lakhs of castes being registered and rendering the entire data useless,” the letter stated.
The Congress leaders emphasised that the current approach will produce fragmented, unverifiable data. They argued that a proper caste census must be precise, relevant, and beneficial for policy-making, especially for affirmative action programs. “We do not approve of the caste census being done through this methodology. The government should cancel the present questionnaire and prepare a fresh one through consultations with political parties, experts, and the public,” the letter said.
As a ready-made solution, the opposition leaders proposed a “drop-down menu” containing a pre-compiled list of castes, similar to the method used for counting Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) in the Census. They noted that this exact methodology was employed in the recent caste surveys conducted by Bihar and Telangana, both of which produced detailed caste-wise data. The leaders enclosed the caste lists from those two surveys for reference.
The letter further stated that a comprehensive caste list for the Census could be easily compiled based on the existing Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBC) list and the extensive data from the Anthropological Survey of India. “The government already has the building blocks – it just needs to use them,” the letter said.
Releasing the letter to the media, Congress spokesperson Jairam Ramesh and OBC department chairperson Anil Jaihind highlighted a key contradiction: the central government had submitted an affidavit to the Supreme Court in September 2021, explicitly stating that if a caste census were to be conducted, a “drop-down menu” with a list of castes would be used. “Now they are doing the exact opposite. This is a clear act of sabotage,” Ramesh told reporters.
The Congress leaders accused the Modi government of deliberately undermining the caste census to avoid a proper count of OBCs, which could reveal the social and economic disparities among communities. They cited the Bihar caste survey, released in 2023, which showed that OBCs and Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs) together form over 60% of the state’s population – a finding that has fuelled demands for a nationwide caste census.
The controversy also touches on the political sensitivity of caste data. The opposition has been pressing for a full caste census (including OBCs) since 2021, arguing that the last such count was in 1931 under British rule. The government has resisted, citing administrative difficulties, until the 2021 Supreme Court directive forced a rethink. However, the current questionnaire design has reignited the debate.
Experts note that an open-ended question without a standardised list leads to severe data quality issues. “Without a fixed list, you cannot aggregate or cross-check responses. The data will be a mess of local names, synonyms, and even fraudulent claims,” said a former census official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The Congress party has demanded that the government immediately scrap the notified questionnaire and initiate a broad consultation process involving all stakeholders. Over the next few days, party leaders plan to raise the issue in Parliament and mobilise OBC groups to pressure the administration.
As of this writing, the Prime Minister’s Office and the Ministry of Home Affairs – which oversees the Census – have not responded to the letter. However, government sources indicated that the current methodology was designed to capture “self-identification” without imposing a pre-defined list, aligning with the principle of respecting individual identity. Critics argue that such an approach sacrifices data utility for ideological convenience.
The 2027 Census is expected to be the largest exercise in India’s history, covering over 1.4 billion people. The outcome of the caste-count debate will have profound implications for reservations, welfare schemes, and political representation for decades to come.
