Telangana pulls off the caste census as promised

Telangana’s Congress government got a caste census done in record time, announced its major findings in the legislative assembly on 4 February and—not withstanding the grumblings of the main opposition parties in the state, the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and the BJP—is now in pole position ahead of the local body elections due once voter lists are finalised by 15 February.

Pulling the caste-based census off as promised can be seen as chief minister Revanth Reddy’s personal accomplishment. It will go a long way towards establishing him as a broad-based leader, more than an influential member of the Reddy community, the landed caste that not only dominates politics but is also seen as the backbone of the Congress party over several decades.

Many of undivided Andhra Pradesh’s best-known political leaders including chief ministers K. Brahmananda Reddy, M. Chenna Reddy, Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy and Neelam Sanjiva Reddy (who became President of India) were all from this community.

A recap of the SEEEPC 2024

Over 50 days in November and December 2024, nearly 100,000 enumerators went from door to door, visiting nearly 1.12 crore families to get the details of 3.54 crore people (96 per cent of the state’s population) for the Socio-Economic, Educational, Employment, Political and Caste (SEEEPC) Survey.

They were armed with a 57-point questionnaire covering about 75 data points. Categories of ‘no caste’ and ‘no religion’ were also listed. Following the survey, the chief minister presented the findings in the Telangana assembly on 4 February 2025.

Backward Classes (BC), including Muslims, accounted for 56.33 per cent of the population. Non-Muslim BCs accounted for 46.25 per cent or 1.64 crore while BC Muslims at 35.77 lakh accounted for 10.08 per cent of the sample.

Next came the Scheduled Castes with 61.84 lakhs (17.43 per cent) followed by the Scheduled Tribes at 37.06 lakh (10.45 per cent). In the Other Castes (OC) category, OCs other than Muslims numbered 47.21 lakh (13.31 per cent) with OC Muslims numbering 8.80 lakh (2.24 per cent) making up a total of 56.01 lakh.

The total Muslim population in the state was 44.57 lakh, or 12.56 per cent. Congress leaders were quick to capitalise on the buzz surrounding the caste census—‘from resolution to report’ within a year.

The Revanth Reddy government had announced its decision to conduct the survey on 4 February 2024; this was approved by the assembly just eight days later. The survey was carried out by the state’s planning department in conjunction with other arms of the government and supervised by the irrigation and civil supplies minister Uttam Kumar Reddy.

The chief minister declared that the state government had resolved to provide 42 per cent quota for BCs in the local body polls, irrespective of whether the union government permitted it or not.

He also indicated that the government may increase reservations in employment and education for the backward classes in line with the numbers identified in the census. Prominent leaders like deputy chief minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka and Uttam Kumar Reddy said the Telangana government would use the survey data as the basis for effective formulation of policy to promote the welfare of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes as well as the backward classes.

This, they said, would be a milestone in data-based governance for the upliftment of the people.

Pressure is already building up from BC leaders who have called for 42 per cent reservation for the community in the local body elections.

Media reports quoted two major BC leaders, Rajya Sabha MP and national BC association president R. Krishnaiah and former Telangana BC commission head V. Krishna Mohan Rao, warning of mass protests if this did not materialise.

They asked the government to take steps to hurdle over legal issues including the 50 per cent cap laid down by the Supreme Court on reservations—which was however breached by the 10 per cent reservation for EWS (Economically Weaker Section). BC leaders insisted the government take them seriously and ensure enhanced quotas in jobs and legislative bodies.

While the major findings of the survey have been made public, the government has still not tabled it. The chief minister said the government was ready to publish the first three volumes on the survey methodology and resources employed, but would withhold the fourth volume because of data privacy laws.

Predictably, the findings have met with objections from the BRS and the BJP. BRS leader K.T. Rama Rao made an accusation of misreported data and called on the government to re-conduct the survey. He said the government had underreported the BC population by about 22 lakh or 5.5 per cent, compared to the numbers found in the Samagra Kutumba (integrated household) survey of 2014 conducted by the then BRS government. He charged the Congress government of doing it hastily.

The BJP took a different line of attack— finding fault with the inclusion of Muslim backward classes within the overall figures. This, they said, was a Congress ploy to suppress the BCs. Adding Muslims to the BC numbers would hurt the chances of Hindu candidates in BC-reserved constituencies, said Union MoS for home, Bandi Sanjay Kumar, citing the results of elections to the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Council.

In fact, the criticism of under-reporting BC data has also come from backward class leaders themselves; they have accused the government of misrepresenting the data to serve their own interests.

By carrying out a comprehensive caste census and making public its findings, the Telangana government has wrongfooted its adversaries and set the stage for intensifying Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s repeated calls for a national caste census, which the BJP is loath to do.

A renewed focus on caste identity and status would not suit the BJP’s outreach to Hindus as a whole, and could even jeopardise its electoral inroads into the community. Also, with the current reservation for Muslims in Telangana being only 4 per cent, the survey suggests that they deserve more—something the BJP opposes.

Though Telangana is not the first state to order a caste survey—Bihar and Karnataka preceded it—it is among the first to come out with the results. Other states are now clamouring for a caste survey.

As the noted social thinker Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd wrote in a newspaper, this survey has significant implications for both national and state politics. Rahul Gandhi is on record saying that BCs/SCs / STs are locked out of the present governance structures in the country. Ilaiah says Gandhi wants to break the hold of the BJP on the BCs ‘by pushing a much more radical pro-OBC agenda. The caste census is a key anchor in the fight’.