Census 2027 has ‘deeper nefarious purpose’: Congress slams questionnaire

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The Congress on Wednesday alleged that the methodology of asking questions on caste in Census 2027 is "deliberately flawed" and the census has a "deeper nefarious purpose".

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Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh claimed that the micro questions on religion, date of birth and the place of birth of parents have never been asked before.

Mr. Ramesh shared a media report on X which claimed that Census 2027 seeks information on religion, date of birth and place of birth up to the village level of both father and mother.

The report claimed that in the census questionnaire, besides the open field option to declare caste, respondents can choose 'does not want to declare caste' and 'no caste'.

In his post, Mr. Ramesh said, "The methodology of asking Qs on caste in Census 2027 is deliberately flawed. The micro Qs on religion, date of birth, place of birth of parents have never been asked before." He further added, "The census is confidential. Clearly Census 27 has a deeper nefarious purpose."

The Congress on Tuesday (August 18, 2026) alleged that the Modi government wants to sabotage the caste census and asked why the Census 2027 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.

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The opposition party had 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".

Mr. 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 prior to 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'," Mr. Ramesh had said in a post on X.

Mr. 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.