New Delhi: Terming the notification on the 16th census as a “damp squib”, the Congress on Monday said it is silent on the inclusion of caste in the exercise and asked whether this is another “U-turn” by the government.
The opposition party also asserted that the Centre must adopt the Telangana model for not just caste enumeration but also in bringing out detailed data on socio-economic parameters caste-wise.
Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said the much-touted gazette notification on the 16th census to be conducted in late 2026/early 2027 has just been issued and is a “damp squib”.
“It is quite a damp squib and merely repeats what had already been announced on April 30, 2025,” Ramesh said on X.
He further said that it is entirely because of the persistence and insistence of the Congress that Prime Minister Narendra Modi “surrendered” to the demand for a caste census.
“He (Modi) had called Congress leaders as urban Naxals for making this demand. Both in Parliament and in the Supreme Court, the Modi Government had rejected the very idea of a caste census – which it announced 47 days back,” Ramesh said.
“Today’s Gazette Notification is, however, SILENT on the inclusion of caste in the 16th Census. Is this yet another U-turn by the ustad of U-turns? Or will details be announced later?” he said.
The Congress firmly believes that the 16th census must adopt the Telangana model for not just caste enumeration but also bringing out detailed data information on socio-economic parameters caste-wise, he asserted.
Later, Ramesh also hit out at the BJP for accusing the Congress of always deceiving and betraying the Other Backward Classes following the Karnataka government’s decision to junk an earlier caste survey in favour of a fresh count.
Ramesh told PTI that if one looks at history it would be very uncomfortable for the RSS and the BJP, which withdrew support to the V P Singh government on the Mandal Commission issue in August 1991, and started the ‘Kamandal agitation’.
The Congress leader also claimed that the RSS had opposed the Constitution of India, back in November 1949.
He pointed out that as per the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution, the census is the responsibility of the central government.
Ramesh said that if the Centre does not want to carry out the census then states are left with no option but to do caste surveys. He cited the examples of Telangana, Bihar and Karnataka.
He also reposted an old post of his on X in which he had said evidence abounds on “Modi’s sudden, complete, and desperate U-turn on the caste census”.
Posing three questions to the prime minister, the Congress leader had in his post on May 4 post asked will Modi have the honesty to acknowledge that his government has officially changed its policy on the caste census over the last 11 years.
Will the PM explain to the people and the Parliament the reasons for the change in the government’s policy, Ramesh had further asked.
“Will he commit to a timeline for the Caste Census?” he had said.
The government on Monday issued a notification for conducting India’s 16th census in 2027, 16 years after the last such exercise in 2011.
The census will be carried out with a reference date of October 1, 2026 in snow-bound areas like Ladakh and March 1, 2027 in the rest of the country, the notification said.
“The reference date for the said census shall be 00.00 hours of the 1st day of March, 2027, except for the Union territory of Ladakh and snow-bound non-synchronous areas of the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir and the states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand,” it said.
In respect of Ladakh and snow-bound non-synchronous areas of the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir and the states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, the reference date shall be 00:00 hours of the 1st day of October, 2026, it said.
