Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Thursday (April 30) intensified his party’s criticism of the Centre over the caste census, saying that a year after the government announced caste enumeration as part of the upcoming Census 2027, the details of the exercise are still awaited.

In a sharp post on X today, Ramesh alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has shown no willingness to engage with the Opposition parties, state governments or experts on how the exercise will be carried out.

Ramesh said the announcement made on April 30, 2025, marked a ‘dramatic U-turn’ by the Modi government, which had earlier opposed caste-wise enumeration. He argued that the Centre has not explained why it changed its position or how it plans to implement the census exercise in a transparent and comprehensive manner.

What Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said

In his post, Ramesh traced what he described as the government’s shifting stance on the issue. He pointed to a July 2021 reply by the Home Minister in the Lok Sabha, in which the government had said it had decided as a matter of policy not to enumerate caste-wise population. He also referred to the Centre’s September 2021 affidavit in the Supreme Court, where it had argued that any court direction to conduct caste-wise enumeration would amount to interference in a policy decision already taken by the government.

Jairam Ramesh then cited Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s April 2023 letter to the Prime Minister seeking an up-to-date caste census as part of the regular Census. He also referred to Modi’s April 2024 television interview in which the Prime Minister attacked the Congress demand for a caste census, allegedly describing it as reflective of ‘urban naxal’ thought.

BJP accused of contradiction

Using those past positions, Jairam Ramesh accused the Prime Minister of making a complete reversal. He said Modi now owes the Congress leadership an apology for the “urban naxal” remark and also owes the people of India an explanation for why the government eventually moved ahead with caste enumeration after earlier resisting it.

According to him, the government’s current silence on the procedure, timeline and methodology suggests that it may be trying to delay the exercise. He said a full year has passed since the announcement, but no clear details have been shared with Parliament or the public.

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Ramesh also alleged that the Centre has failed to initiate a meaningful dialogue on the caste census. He said there has been no consultation with Opposition parties, state governments or subject experts, despite the political and social importance of the exercise.

The Congress leader further recalled that Mallikarun Kharge wrote again to the Prime Minister on May 5, 2025, but the letter was not even acknowledged. He said the concerns raised in that letter remain relevant and have become even more urgent after the recent special session of Parliament, which, according to him, indicated that the government intends to delay the census.

Jairam Ramesh shared Kharge’s earlier letter, in which the Congress president had urged the Centre to adopt the Telangana model for caste-based enumeration. The letter had argued that a caste census done in a comprehensive manner is necessary to secure social and economic justice for backward, oppressed and marginalised communities.

Kharge had also asked the Prime Minister to hold a dialogue with all political parties on the matter. The Congress has repeatedly maintained that caste enumeration should be part of the main census process and not treated as a divisive issue.

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The Centre announced on April 30, 2025, that caste enumeration would be included in the 2027 Census, specifically during the population enumeration phase. Until the 2011 Census, only Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes were systematically counted.

The issue has since become politically charged, with the Congress accusing the government of trying to keep the caste census in ‘cold storage,’ while the BJP has not yet publicly detailed the operational framework for the exercise.