New Delhi [India], June 16 : Congress General Secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh on Monday questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi over "no mention" of caste census in the gazette notification for the population census by the Ministry of Home Affairs, asking, "Has the Prime Minister changed his mind?"
Jairam Ramesh also questioned the Union government over the budget allocation for the census, mentioning that it does not match the required amount.
"Today's gazette notification says only census will be done in late October of 2026 in Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand and Himachal and the rest of the country it will be done in March 2027. It does not talk of the word caste census. So my question is, has the Prime Minister changed his mind again? Why is there no mention of the caste census?" the senior Congress leader said while speaking to ANI.
"The budget allocation will take atleast Rs 9000 crore to Rs 10,000 crores by the government's own admission to carry out a normal census. The total allocation for the census commissioner this year, 2025-26, is only Rs 575 crore, so where is the additional money?" he added.
Jairam Ramesh argued that the BJP has always been against reservation, citing past instances, such as opposition to the Mandal Commission.
""BJP withdrew support to the VP Singh government on the Mandal Commission in August 1991, and they started the Camandal agitation to counter the Mandal agitation. So let's not get into this history. I can also go into the history of how the RSS opposed the Constitution of India beginning November 1949, how Yogi Adityanath has opposed reservations, and how RSS leaders have opposed reservations," he said.
Jairam Ramesh also accused PM Modi of opposing the caste census in the past and terming those demanding it as "urban naxals."
"The Prime Minister has consistently opposed the caste census. On 28 April 2024, he called all those wanting a caste census. Urban naxals. They filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court on 21st September 2021 saying that we are against a caste census and we have no intention of carrying out a caste census," he said.
The Congress General Secretary further advised that the caste census should be done by using the Telangana model.
"Congress wants the Telangana model to be adopted at the national level. In Karnataka, it is not just cast enumeration. It is also getting information on their socio-economic status and then working out indices of backwardness, ownership of assets, and their representation in the institutions of governance. It is not just enumeration, it's more than that," he added.
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) issued a notification on Monday announcing that the 16th census will be carried out in snow-bound non-synchronous areas of Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand from October 2026 and the rest of the country from March 2027.
"In exercise of the powers conferred by Section three of the Census Act 1948 and in suppression of the notification of the Government of India in the Ministry of Home Affairs dated March 26, 2018, the Central Government declared that a census of the population of India shall be taken during the year 2027," the MHA notification read.
The reference date for the census shall be March 1, 2027, except for the Union territory of Ladakh and the snow-bound non-synchronous areas of the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir and the states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
Furthermore, the reference date for the Union Territory of Ladakh, snow-bound non-synchronous areas of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, and the states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand will be October 1, 2026.
On April 30, Union Minister Ashiwni Vaishnaw announced that the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs has decided to include caste enumeration in the general census.
The INDIA bloc, which had been constantly demanding the caste census, welcomed the decision, pressing that it should be conducted in a "transparent and unbiased" manner.