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New Delhi: The Congress on Tuesday, August 18, alleged that the Modi government wants to sabotage the caste census and asked why the 2027 census does not include a drop-down menu for selecting castes, despite the Centre recommending it in its affidavit to the Supreme Court in September 2021.

The opposition party claimed that the prime minister made a “complete U-turn” on April 30, 2025, by announcing a caste census, only to now perform a “U-turn on his earlier U-turn”.

Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh highlighted that on September 21, 2021, the Modi government had filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court categorically rejecting the plea for a caste census.

“However, para 12 (d) in the affidavit says the following: ‘There was no registry of caste prepared before the conduct of the 2011 Census. It would have been ideal for the Registry of Castes that there should have been given a drop-down menu for selection of the castes, which could have made some consistent data available which can be relied upon’,” Ramesh said in a post on X.

Ramesh questioned why the 2027 census does not feature this drop-down menu, which the Modi government had recommended in its affidavit to the Supreme Court in September 2021.

He noted that such a menu had been prepared before caste surveys were conducted in Bihar and Telangana.

This suggestion was also reflected in a letter from the Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge to Prime Minister Modi on May 5, 2025, Ramesh pointed out.

“The conclusion is clear: the Modi Government wants to simply sabotage the caste census. The PM had made a complete U-turn on April 30, 2025 and announced that a caste census, which he had earlier attacked as an ‘urban naxal’ idea, would take place.

“Now he has done another U-turn on his earlier U-turn and, without saying so, has buried the idea of a caste census. He is a U-turn ustad,” Ramesh said.