Mallikarjun Kharge’s letter to PM Modi: Demand to conduct caste-based census immediately, Jairam Ramesh shared the letter on Twitter

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday regarding the conduct of caste census in the country. In the letter, Kharge demanded that the decennial census of 2021 be conducted in the country at the earliest. He wrote that caste should be made an integral part of the census. This will strengthen social justice and empowerment. Let us tell you that on Sunday itself, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had also demanded from PM Modi to make the caste-based census data of 2011 public.

Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh today shared Kharge’s letter to PM Modi in a tweet. He wrote that now everyone should get the same rights as the population.

Full letter of Mallikajurg Kharge…

Dear Prime Minister,

I am writing to you once again to officially place the demand of the Indian National Congress for the latest caste census. My colleagues and I have raised this demand in both the Houses of Parliament on several occasions in the past. Leaders of many other opposition parties have also put forward this demand.

You are aware that for the first time the UPA government had conducted the Social, Economic and Caste Census (SECC) during 2011-12 covering about 25 crore households. After your government came to power in May 2014, Congress and other MPs demanded its release, but caste data was not published due to various reasons.

I suspect that in the absence of the latest caste census, the data base required for social justice and empowerment programmes, especially for the upliftment of OBCs, is incomplete. This census is the responsibility of the central government. I also want to inform that the decennial census was to be held in 2021, but it has not been done yet. We demand that this be done immediately and a comprehensive caste census be made an integral part of it.

See Mallikarjun Kharge’s letter here…

Caste based census in Bihar
In Bihar, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has already announced caste-based census. It has been announced to do this in two phases. The first phase has also been completed. The second phase of census will start from April 15. Caste codes have also been issued for this. Each caste has been given a different code.