NEW DELHI: The Congress on Tuesday accused the Centre of delaying the caste census, saying its intention appears to be to "buy time, grab headlines and manage the narrative", and asked the government to be transparent about the exercise.
Congress general secretary Sachin Pilot said the objective cannot just be to collect data on an individual's caste but to understand the living conditions of these families and create policies to substantially improve their livelihoods.
He said there are doubts about the government's intentions on the caste census and pointed out that the required funding for the census is Rs 10,000 crore whereas the government has allocated only Rs 574 crore.
His remarks come a day after a Home Ministry spokesperson made it clear that the census will include caste enumeration, following the Congress' charge that the government notification is "silent" on the inclusion of caste in the exercise.
"The demand for a caste census was led by the Congress party, particularly by the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, who has been raising this issue for several years.
"Due to the party's continuous and forceful demand, the Modi government has yielded and announced a caste census. However, the facts and figures tell a different story," Pilot said at a press conference at the Congress' Indira Bhawan headquarters here on Tuesday.
The government plans to start the exercise in 2027, but the required funding for the census is Rs 10,000 crore, whereas the government has allocated only Rs 574 crore, he pointed out.
"The objective is not just to collect data on an individual's caste but to understand the living conditions of these families and create policies to substantially improve their livelihoods.
Without tangible data, no state or central government can implement targeted interventions, which is what we aimed to achieve," he said.
Initially, the BJP labelled us as "urban naxals" and refused to accept these demands and now, sensing the country's mood, they have accepted the proposal in principle, he said.
"However, there seems to be considerable confusion and dissatisfaction regarding it. Therefore, I urge the government to be clear and transparent, avoiding extended deadlines and inadequate budget allocations," Pilot said.
"The idea is to accurately assess the status of people living in India, and caste census is the perfect way to do it. Unfortunately, it appears the government's intention is to buy time, grab headlines, and manage the narrative," he said.
The BJP on Tuesday alleged that the Congress is carrying out false and misleading propaganda on Census 2027 because its hope of gaining power by creating division in society is falling apart with the Narendra Modi-led government's decision to include caste enumeration in the nationwide exercise.
The Home Ministry noted that some misleading information, which stated that there was no mention of caste count in the gazette notification, was being spread and later asserted that the Census 2027 would include caste enumeration.
Lambasting the Congress for "misleading" people with false claims, BJP national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi alleged that the prime objective of the opposition party by resorting to such a "petty" act is to create confusion in society and gain power.
Since it is witnessing its objective falling apart, the Congress has resorted to spreading "falsehood, deception and lies", he told reporters at the BJP headquarters here.
Trivedi said the press releases issued by the government had clearly mentioned that along with the census, a socio-economic assessment and caste census would also be conducted.
"Marred by its myopic view and blurred vision, rather a motivated nefarious vision, however, they (Congress) are unable to see what is categorically explained in the Modi government's decision to conduct the census," he charged.
They are running completely false and misleading propaganda because they feel that their hopes are not being fulfilled, the Rajya Sabha MP added.
Trivedi alleged that the Congress has always resorted to vote bank politics in the name of caste but did nothing for the backward communities.
"The party decided to stop the caste census (enumeration) in 1951 and did not allow the Kaka Kalekar Commission report and the Mandal Commission report to be released," he said.
With the 'Sabka saath, sabka vishwas' mantra, Trivedi said, the NDA government under Prime Minister Modi's leadership wants to conduct a census with caste enumeration to ensure "recognition of all castes, respect for all castes and upliftment of the most backward castes".
On the contrary, the leaders of the Congress and "INDI Alliance" only want the upliftment of their families by creating division in the society on caste lines, the BJP leader charged.
"In 2022, our alliance government in Bihar decided to conduct a caste survey in the state," the BJP leader said.
Trivedi also raised questions over the Congress government's decision to conduct a fresh caste survey in Karnataka and asked whether the previous survey conducted with an expenditure of Rs 165 crore was erroneous.
Pilot claimed that the Modi government is delaying the caste census just as it had done on the women's reservation issue.
"We say that the government should stop politicising this and work effectively and adopt the 'Telangana model' for caste census at the national level," he said.
"Look at the intention of the BJP government, where 8-10 thousand crore rupees are spent in conducting the census, the government has allocated only 570 crore rupees in the budget," he said.
"The government is telling the people that it will conduct caste census, but this thing is missing from the formal notification," Pilot said.
The Congress stuck to its allegations even as the BJP hit back at the opposition party, accusing it of carrying out "false and misleading" propaganda on Census 2027 because its hope of gaining power by creating division in society is falling apart with the government's decision to include caste enumeration in the nationwide exercise.
Pilot said the Congress government in Telangana has done the caste survey work in a very good manner.
"They did not involve government officials but engaged NGOs and technical people for their survey," he said.
"Caste census is the first step through which we will know the economic and social status of the people, but the Modi government does not seem to have any intention of conducting caste census," he claimed.
The idea of the Congress is to have an expansive detailed survey of the conditions in which people live -- access to education, jobs, government schemes and economic situation, to do better policy formulation, Pilot said.
"The objective of the exercise is not just to get the name and the caste of a person - that I don't think has that much value. The real value is that you understand in what condition they are living, how successful the schemes have been so far, are the targeted budgets and policy programmes reaching the ones that we are intending for," he said.
"So that's what Mr Gandhi says 'x-ray' of the country. That is what we require to be done and it requires not just government efforts, it requires participation from NGOs, experts in that field. Telangana should be the model adopted by the government," Pilot said.
The Congress on Monday had termed the notification for India's 16th census as a "damp squib" and asserted that the Modi government must adopt the Telangana model for not just caste enumeration but also in bringing out detailed data on socioeconomic parameters caste-wise.
The opposition party also said the notification is "silent" on the inclusion of caste in the exercise and asked whether this is another "U-turn" by the government.
However, an MHA spokesperson had dismissed such claims as misleading.
"It has already been mentioned in the press releases dated 30 April, 4 June and 15 June 2025 that census will also have caste enumeration," the spokesperson had said.