Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh has accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of executing a “sudden, complete, and desperate U-turn” on the caste census, a move he says is rooted in political convenience.
In a post on X on Sunday, Ramesh wrote, “Evidence abounds on Mr Modi's sudden, complete, and desperate U-turn on the caste census,” before listing three examples that lay bare the contradictions in the BJP-led Centre’s stance over the years.
PM Modi, as recently as April 28, 2024, had dismissed all those advocating for a caste census as “urban naxals” during a televised interview, the Congress leader said.
Just a few years earlier, the Modi government had opposed any such enumeration in Parliament. On July 20, 2021, the Modi Government told Parliament that it had “decided as a matter of policy not to enumerate caste-wise population other than SCs and STs in the Census,” Ramesh added.
The Congress general secretary also cited the Centre’s affidavit to the Supreme Court dated September 21, 2021, which not only reaffirmed this stance but warned the judiciary against intervening. The affidavit stated that “the exclusion of information regarding any other caste...is a conscious policy decision.”
"In fact, the Modi government explicitly urged the Supreme Court not to order a caste census for the OBCs," Ramesh said.
The Congress leader also posed three questions to the Prime Minister.
"Will he have the honesty to acknowledge that his Government has officially changed its policy on the caste census over the last eleven years? Will he explain to the people and the Parliament the reasons for the change in the Government’s policy? Will he commit to a timeline for the Caste Census?" Ramesh asked.
The Congress on Friday asked the government to announce a "clear timeline" for every stage of the caste survey and reiterated its demand for removing the "arbitrary ceiling" of 50 per cent on reservations for SCs, STs and OBCs.
The Centre on Wednesday announced that caste enumeration will be part of the next population census, with the inclusion of caste details for the first time since Independence.