New Delhi: In a major decision, the Modi government on Wednesday announced that caste enumeration will be included in the next census exercise in a “transparent” manner and slammed the Opposition parties for using caste survey as a “political tool”.

The Congress and other Opposition parties have been vociferously demanding a nationwide caste census, making it a major election issue, and some states like Bihar, Telangana and Karnataka have conducted such surveys.

The government decision comes ahead of the Assembly elections in Bihar, where several parties including some BJP allies have been coming out in support of the caste census.

Announcing the decision taken by the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said the census comes under the purview of the Centre, but some states have done caste enumeration in the name of surveys “non-transparently” which has created doubts in the society.

Noting that caste was not included in all census operations conducted since Independence, Vaishnaw alleged that the Congress governments have always opposed caste census, and the party had used the issue as a political tool. “Considering all these facts and to ensure that the social fabric is not disturbed by politics, caste enumeration should be transparently included in the Census instead of surveys,” he said, adding that this will strengthen the social and economic structure of our society while the nation continues to progress.

The minister alleged that the states ruled by opposition parties have done caste surveys for political reasons and emphasised that the Modi government has resolved to transparently include caste enumeration in the forthcoming pan-India census exercise. The opposition INDIA bloc had made caste census a major poll plank in the recent elections, with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi promising representation to people based on their population.

“Better late than never,” Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said in a post on X, reacting to the government announcement. He said the party had raised the issue in its resolution on social justice, which was passed in Ahmedabad on April 9, 2025, and also shared an April 16, 2023 letter of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in which he had demanded that the decennial census be carried out and a comprehensive caste census be made a part of it. The last nationwide census was completed in 2011 and the next decadal one was to commence in April 2020 but got delayed due to the Covid pandemic.