Modi govt will never conduct a real caste census: Rahul Gandhi

Launching a scathing attack on the Modi government, Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi on Friday alleged that the Centre has no intention of conducting a “real” caste census, asserting that an honest enumeration of castes would dismantle the BJP’s political edifice.

“The Modi government will never conduct a real caste census. The day they do it, their politics will end,” Rahul said at the Samvidhan Suraksha Sammelan in Rajgir, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar’s political bastion.

This was Rahul’s fifth visit to the poll-bound state where assembly elections will be held this year, underscoring the Congress’ increasing focus on Bihar.

Rahu's criticism came just two days after the Union government announced that the decadal census, including caste enumeration, will commence from March 2027.

Rahul contrasted two competing approaches to the caste census, calling out the “BJP model” as opaque and exclusionary. “In the BJP model, a few officers decide the questions sitting in a closed room — 90 per cent of society is left out,” he said. “But in Telangana, we invited people from every community to suggest questions. Around 3 lakh citizens helped shape the survey.”

He argued that this participatory approach yielded striking insights. “In Telangana, we found that government contracts go disproportionately to just 4-5 social groups. Dalits, Adivasis, backward and extremely backward castes are left out. When we studied drivers and food delivery personnel, most belonged to these marginalised communities,” Rahul added. “A genuine caste census is the first step to fixing this inequality.”

Rahul didn’t spare Bihar CM Nitish Kumar either. In a sharp rebuke, he accused the JD(U)-BJP regime of turning Bihar from “a land of knowledge to the crime capital of India.”

Attacking PM Narendra Modi on multiple fronts, Rahul also mocked the prime minister’s frequent assertion of his OBC identity.

“Narendra Modi used to say, ‘I’m OBC’ in every speech. But now he claims there’s no caste in India. If there is no caste, how did he become OBC?” Rahul asked, adding that he had challenged Modi directly in Parliament: “There will be a caste census — and he knows he always surrenders.”

Doubling down on his “surrender” jibe, Rahul invoked former US President Donald Trump, saying, “Trump has said 11 times — ‘I made Narendra Modi surrender.’ But Modi has no courage to even deny this. Why? Because it’s true.”

With Bihar heading into elections later this year and caste emerging as a central theme, Rahul Gandhi’s remarks appear aimed at sharpening the Congress pitch on social justice, while simultaneously cornering both the BJP and its ally JDU on their ambivalent stance.