The government gives headlines, but where is the deadline: Congress of the Centre Caste Census

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh held a press conference in New Delhi on Thursday, May 1, 2025. Image source: PTI

Congress attacked the government on Thursday (May 1, 2025) after announcing the inclusion of caste enumerations in the upcoming census, calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi “the master of headlines that have no deadlines”.

Read Also | Akhilesh says the decision to caste census is a victory for the PDA.

Congress Secretary General Jairam Ramesh said there were many problems with the decision, especially for the intention of the government, and demanded that the census should be conducted as soon as possible.

Mr. Ramesh scanned the Prime Minister at the party’s 24th report, who said he was the master of “granting headlines without deadlines”.

Mr Ramesh asserted that the 50% barrier to booking should be removed, and he asked what prevented the Modi government from doing so.

He said Congress requested a constitutional amendment and lifted the 50% cap on bookings, adding that the caste census will only make sense after doing so.

Mr Ramesh cites a press release from the cabinet meeting in December 2019, which said the union cabinet has approved a proposal to conduct a census in India in 2021 at a cost of Rs 82,54 crore.

He noted that the press release did not mention caste enumeration.

“Everyone knows that this census has not been completed, and it has been six years since then. Surprisingly, the news was published yesterday by the government,” he said.

However, Mr Ramesh urged the government to maintain a roadmap for the caste census before the country.

He noted that in the 2025-26 budget, only Rs 575 crore was allocated to the office of the Census Commissioner.

“What kind of census are they going to complete at Rs 57.5 crore. So, what is the intention – just what is the purpose of giving the title? What is their intention? There are a lot of questions on the intention.”

“You should have a census in 2021. They cite a common pandemic, but over 50 countries have conducted census during Covid. The pandemic was in 2023 and wasn’t there in 2024, but they didn’t finish it.”

He said that during a series of interviews with the TV channel last year, he called those who talked about the caste census “urban Naxals.”

“When did he become the city Naxal? Since the Interior Minister Amit Shah became the city Naxal?” Ramesh said.

The center announced that the caste enumeration would be part of the next census, and his speech was the second day, including caste details for the first time since independence.

Rahul Gandhi, former president of Congress, said he welcomed the administration’s “sudden” decision to include caste enumerations in the upcoming census after “11 years against 11 years”, but asserted that the center should give it a timeline for implementation.

Mr Gandhi said commemorating the ongoing campaign of Congress for the Government’s announcement of the caste census, who had said his direct suspicion was that this could be conducted in the form of women’s bills in terms of implementation and requested for this specific date.

Leaders of the Lok Sabha opposition said it was clear that Congress’s pressure on the caste census had already put pressure on.

Opposition parties, including Congress, have been demanding a national caste census, making it a major election issue. Some states such as Bihar, Telangana and Karnataka have conducted such surveys.

Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announced a decision made by the Cabinet Political Affairs Committee saying the census falls under the authority of the centre, but some states have conducted caste enumerations under the name of “non-transparent” investigations, which has raised social doubts.