Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi have expressed their concerns regarding the proposed method for collecting caste details in the upcoming census. They conveyed their objections in a letter addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, highlighting potential issues with the approach being considered for this critical demographic data collection.
If people from the same caste are recorded under different names, one caste could end up being counted as several different groups. The Congress leaders suggested using a fixed list of castes through a drop-down option instead of allowing people to enter caste names freely. The letter further asked for the current questionnaire to be cancelled.
Earlier reporting noted: Rahul Gandhi, Kharge write letter to PM Modi; asks for current census questionnaire to be cancelled Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday (August 25, 2026) over the caste census issue.
They said the government’s decision to use an open-ended question to record caste details could lead to problems. “Your government has chosen the method of recording caste information in the census using open-ended questions, which is misleading,” they said in the letter. The leaders said the same caste could have different names, sub-castes and spellings in different parts of India. “This will result in millions of castes in the country, rendering the entire data obtained from the caste census useless,” the letter said. Kharge and Rahul Gandhi said this could lead to incorrect estimates of the size of different communities. This could also affect decisions on education, jobs, government planning and social justice schemes, they said. They said such a list could be prepared using existing government lists, including the Socially and Educationally Backward Classes list and information from the Anthropological Survey of India. Earlier reporting noted: The letter said the government has opted for open-ended question format to record caste details in census, which is misleading. Earlier reporting noted: In a post on X, the Congress leaders said, “Your govt has opted for open-ended question format to record caste details in census, which is misleading”.
Call for Accurate Caste Data to Support Social Justice Policies
Kharge, the Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, and Rahul Gandhi, his counterpart in the Lok Sabha, emphasized the necessity of reliable caste data. They argued that such information is crucial for developing effective social justice policies and evaluating the socio-economic conditions of various communities.
