New Delhi, Aug 25,2026: The Congress on Tuesday mounted a fresh attack on the Centre over the proposed methodology for caste enumeration in the upcoming census, with Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh calling the exercise a “deception” and a “whitewash” rather than a genuine caste census.
Addressing a press conference at the AICC headquarters, Ramesh said the methodology proposed by the government was fundamentally flawed and would fail to generate the accurate and comprehensive data needed to formulate policies aimed at ensuring social justice.
Drawing attention to the census notification issued on August 14, Ramesh said it contained 40 questions, with only one question concerning caste, placed at number 10. He described the approach as “self-sabotage” and questioned how a serious nationwide caste census could be conducted through what the Congress considers an inadequately designed format.
“The government’s current efforts towards a caste census are just a whitewash,” Ramesh said, demanding a credible, transparent and scientifically designed enumeration exercise.
The Congress leader also accused the Centre of failing to consult opposition parties and state governments on the structure and methodology of the census. He said the existing notification should be withdrawn and replaced with a comprehensive questionnaire prepared after consultations with political parties, experts, state governments and the public.
The party said the government should draw lessons from the detailed caste surveys conducted in Bihar and Telangana while designing the nationwide exercise.
The criticism comes against the backdrop of a letter written by Congress president and Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, raising objections to the proposed methodology for recording caste details.
Kharge and Rahul Gandhi have urged the Prime Minister to scrap the existing questionnaire and formulate a fresh one after wide-ranging consultations, arguing that the credibility of the caste enumeration would depend not only on the decision to collect caste data but also on the ability of the methodology to produce accurate, comparable and reliable information about India’s social composition.
The two Leaders of Opposition particularly objected to what they described as an open-ended format for recording caste details. They warned that the approach could lead to inconsistencies and inaccuracies and place backward and extremely backward communities at a disadvantage.
“Your government has opted for an open-ended question format to record caste details in the census, which is misleading,” Kharge and Rahul Gandhi said in their letter.
They argued that respondents or enumerators should not be required to manually record caste names in an open-ended format and instead called for a comprehensive drop-down list of castes to ensure uniformity and accuracy in the collection of data.
“A drop-down list of castes should be created for recording castes in the census,” the two Leaders of Opposition said.
According to the Congress leaders, a properly designed digital and standardised system would reduce the possibility of errors, duplication and variations in the spelling or identification of caste names, thereby improving the reliability of the final data.
The Congress has consistently maintained that a nationwide caste census is necessary to develop evidence-based public policies and ensure that welfare programmes, affirmative action measures and systems of representation adequately reflect the social and economic realities of different communities.
The party has repeatedly accused the Narendra Modi government of delaying or diluting the caste enumeration exercise, arguing that an incomplete or poorly designed exercise could undermine the very purpose of collecting caste-related data.
The latest intervention by the Congress leadership comes amid an intensifying political debate over the methodology and scope of the proposed caste enumeration. While the Centre has moved towards collecting caste-related information, the opposition party has insisted that the process must be transparent, scientifically robust and based on wide-ranging consultations.
Urging Prime Minister Modi to personally intervene, Kharge and Rahul Gandhi said the existing questionnaire should be withdrawn and replaced with a more comprehensive format. They argued that a properly conducted caste census would provide a stronger empirical basis for policies relating to representation, reservations, welfare and the equitable distribution of resources.
Ramesh said the Congress’s position was unequivocal: the current framework should be scrapped and replaced with a scientifically designed, standardised and comprehensive questionnaire developed after consultations with political parties, domain experts, state governments and the public.
