Congress cries foul over caste census, alleges OBCs deliberately left out
Congress cries foul over caste census, alleges OBCs deliberately left out
M.U.H
18/08/202640
The Congress has accused the Modi government of deliberately leaving the Other Backward Classes (OBC) out of the caste census questionnaire, alleging that the omission is part of a “deep conspiracy” to keep the community’s true population figures out of official records.
Launching a sharp attack on the Centre, Congress OBC department chief Anil Jaihind said the absence of a dedicated column for OBCs undermines the very purpose of a caste census and strikes at the principles of social justice.
Jaihind said the government should conduct the exercise in a scientific, transparent and comprehensive manner so that the demographic strength of different communities can be accurately established. Instead, he alleged, the current process could pave the way for OBCs being excluded from official statistics.
“The system may have changed, but a ‘Manuvadi’ system is operating in reality,” Jaihind told reporters, arguing that the alleged omission raises serious questions about the government’s commitment to social justice.
Referring to the census notification issued on 14 August, Jaihind specifically pointed to Question 10 of the questionnaire, where, he said, there is no separate provision for respondents to identify themselves as OBC.
For the Congress, the issue goes beyond a missing column. The party argues that reliable caste data is essential for assessing the socio-economic position of communities, determining the reach of welfare measures and ensuring that policies aimed at disadvantaged groups are based on accurate numbers.
Congress leader Subhashini Sharad Yadav also stressed the need for a nuanced enumeration of castes, pointing out that caste identities and their social manifestations differ significantly from one region to another. Any meaningful caste census, she argued, must therefore account for these regional variations rather than rely on a simplistic or uniform classification.
The Congress has sought to turn the alleged omission into a larger political and social justice issue, questioning whether the census can truly reflect India’s caste composition if one of its largest social categories does not have a clearly defined place in the questionnaire.
With the caste census debate already occupying a prominent place in national politics, the Congress’s latest allegations are likely to intensify scrutiny of the government’s enumeration framework and fuel demands for greater clarity on how OBCs will be counted.
