Congress chief Kharge writes to PM Modi asking him to have dialogue with all political parties on caste census

Congress president urges PM Modi to implement caste survey, remove reservation cap, and implement Article 15(5) for SCs, STs, and OBCs.

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, asking the government to have a dialogue with all political parties on caste-census, even as he urged the Modi Government to follow the Telangana model of caste survey for the national census. 

Mr. Kharge also asked the government not to “conceal anything” in the final caste census and place the socio-economic data of each caste in the public domain. He also reiterated the party’s stance on removing the 50% ceiling on reservation by amending the Constitution.

“In fact, I would request you to have a dialogue with all political parties soon on the issue of the caste census,”Mr. Kharge in his letter, dated May 5, made public on Tuesday (May 6, 2025).

Talking about the importance of the design of the questionnaire, he said, “The Union Home Ministry must draw upon the Telangana model—both the methodology adopted for finalizing the questionnaire, as well the final set of questions asked”.

“Nothing in the report published finally should be concealed so that complete socio-economic data of each caste is made available to provide them their constitutionally enabled rights and the socio-economic progress can be measured from one census to another,” the Congress chief added.

Pointing out that only the Tamil Nadu reservations law has been protected in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution since August 1994, Mr. Kharge said “laws of other States should also be included in the Ninth Schedule of our Constitution”. 

“Moreover, whatever the results of the caste census will be, it is abundantly clear that the arbitrarily imposed 50% ceiling on reservations for scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and OBCs must be removed by a Constitutional amendment,” he added.