In the first phase questionnaire of the population census released in the third week of January 2026, details of castes other than Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) were not sought. The Congress, the Samajwadi Party, and other opposition parties have pointed this out and criticised the Union government. They have also raised doubts about whether the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government will carry out a caste-based census as it has announced.
In India, no population census has been conducted since 2011. The census that was due in 2021 was postponed citing the COVID-19 pandemic. However, this justification was not genuine, because elections were conducted in several states during that period, and the 2024 Lok Sabha election was also held. COVID-19 was not an obstacle to any of these. Therefore, no one accepted the BJP government’s excuse for not conducting the census.
The real reason the BJP government deferred the census was the insistence by parties, including the Congress, that a caste-based census be conducted. Not only opposition parties, but even parties within the BJP-led alliance pressed for a caste census. In particular, this became a major political issue in Bihar.
In the 2024 Lok Sabha election, the BJP failed to secure an absolute majority. It formed the government with the support of the Janata Dal (United), led by Nitish Kumar in Bihar, and the Telugu Desam Party, led by Chandrababu Naidu in Andhra Pradesh.
The Janata Dal (United) went into the Parliamentary election promising a caste-based census in Bihar. Since the BJP-led Union government depends on the support of the JD(U), it was compelled to announce a caste census. As the courts struck down the caste survey conducted at the state level by the Nitish Kumar government, a situation arose in which only the Union government could carry out a caste-based census.
With the Bihar Assembly election scheduled for 2025, the BJP, which rules at the Union, entered into an alliance with the JD(U) in Bihar. To win the Bihar Assembly election, the BJP found itself in a tight spot where it had to announce a caste census. Until then, the BJP had dismissed the demand for a caste census as a “divisive, separatist demand.” It reversed its stand and announced that it would conduct a caste-based census.
The Union BJP government declared that the population census postponed since 2021 would be conducted in 2027 as a caste census. This announcement was not made out of the BJP’s own volition. Rather, it was the result of pressure from its ally, the JD(U), the Congress turning it into a nationwide campaign issue, and the compulsion to win the Bihar state election. Hence, doubts still persist among the people as to whether the caste census will actually be conducted.
The upcoming population census in India will be the 16th census since the process began during British rule. Until India attained independence, the census was conducted as a caste census. After independence, however, only Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes were enumerated by caste. The census proposed by the Union government for 2027 will thus be the first caste-based census in independent India.
When the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance was in power in 2011, it conducted a Socio-Economic and Caste Census. However, the Union government did not release its findings. While in opposition, the BJP had demanded the release of these data, but after coming to power in 2014, it did not do so. It is said that the reason for withholding the data was that the census recorded the existence of lakhs of castes in India. In the last caste census conducted in 1931 during British rule, the total number of castes in India was recorded as 4,147. By contrast, it is said that the 2011 Socio-Economic and Caste Census recorded more than 46 lakh castes.
There is a widespread view among SC communities that a caste census will not bring them any new benefits and that only Other Backward Classes (OBCs) will gain from it. They should not be complacent. Whatever way SC communities in other states may view it, Adi Dravidas in Tamil Nadu must regard this as an important opportunity. This is because it was during the 1931 caste census that their numerical strength was reduced. This is the right moment to correct that injustice.
Through the tireless efforts of the great leader MC Raja, the Justice Party government issued an order in 1922 abolishing the derogatory names 'Paraiyar' and 'Panchamar' and declaring that all of them should be called 'Adi Dravida', an ancient identity beyond caste.
When MC Raja introduced the resolution in the Legislative Council on January 20, 1922, leaders such as MC Madurapillai and Namperumal Chetty welcomed it, and it was passed. However, during the 1931 census, the census officer ordered that “whatever caste an individual declares should be recorded.”
As a result, some registered themselves under the old name Paraiyar and others under the new name Adi Dravida. Consequently, the Paraiyar community – then the second largest in the Madras Presidency – was split into Adi Dravida and Paraiyar, turning it into smaller groups and fragmenting their numerical strength.
Despite a government order prohibiting the use of the names Paraiyar and Panchamar, these names were listed in the census and have continued illegally to this day. Adi Dravidas have mounted a sustained struggle, but neither the Union nor state governments after Independence have taken steps to call them by a single name.
The only real strength of Scheduled Castes lies in their numerical strength. They must use this caste-based census to reclaim it. Based on the government order issued during the Justice Party regime, they should press the Tamil Nadu government to address everyone by the single, caste-transcending, ancient identity of ‘Adi Dravida’.
D Ravikumar is a Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha) representing the Villupuram constituency in Tamil Nadu. He is from the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) party.
Views expressed are the author’s own.