Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday accused the Centre of avoiding the caste census debate, saying the Modi government has betrayed the Bahujans of the country.The leader of the opposition said he asked the question in the parliament, but was shocked at the response. Sharing the written response he received in the parliament, he said that the government had not prepared any plan and had not brought any discussion before parliament.“No concrete framework, no time-bound plan, no discussion in parliament, and no dialogue with the public. Not even the slightest desire to learn from the successful caste census strategies of other states. This stance of the Modi government on the caste census is an open betrayal of the country’s Bahujan communities,” the Congress leader said.Rahul had asked the government for details on how it planned to prepare for the next census, including the drafting of questions, timelines, public consultation, and whether it would study caste surveys done in states. In its reply, the Centre said the census process would follow the experiences of earlier exercises and that suggestions from stakeholders are taken before every census. Minister of state for home affairs Nityanand Rai said the 2027 census would be carried out in two phases —the house-listing and housing enumeration between April and September 2026, followed by the population count in February 2027. In Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, and some snowbound areas of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, the population count will be done in September 2026, Center said.It also said the census questionnaire is finalised only after receiving suggestions from ministries, departments, and data users, and after testing the draft in the field. Bihar completed its caste survey in 2023, while Telangana and Karnataka carried out similar exercises in 2024 and in September–October 2025.
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