Congress raises caste census pitch; Mallikarjun Kharge writes to PM Modi

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi demanding that a caste census be conducted immediately. He argued that a caste census is important to get a reliable database for implementing the social justice programmes of the government, especially for the other backward classes, in a meaningful way.

The letter said Congress has been demanding a caste census and that the previous UPA regime had undertaken an exercise, albeit incomplete, to conduct a socio-economic caste census among 250 million households.

"For a number of reasons, however, the caste data could not get published even though the Congress and other MPs demanded its release after your government came to power in May 2014," said Kharge's letter. "In the absence of an updated caste census, I am afraid a reliable data base so very essential for meaningful social justice and empowerment programmes, particularly for the OBCs, is incomplete. This census is the responsibility of the Union government."


Kharge also reminded the PM that the decennial censual too is overdue. "I would also like to point out that the regular decennial Census was to be carried out in 2023 but it has not yet been conducted. We demand that it be done immediately and that a comprehensive Caste census be made its integral part," said the letter.

The Congress leadership has formally lent its support to the demand for a caste census by making it part of the mega social justice resolution it passed at the recently held Raipur All India Congress Committee plenary session. Kharge's letter amplifies the party's eagerness to join hands with some other opposition parties who have been demanding a caste census of late as a way of taking on the RSS-BJP combine and the Modi government.