Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi said the same caste could have different names, sub-castes and spellings in different parts of India.Prefer HTon Google Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi have objected to the way caste details are proposed to be collected in the upcoming census in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi have written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi (ANI/Narendramodi/X)Kharge, the Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, and Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, said accurate caste data was important for making social justice policies and understanding the socio-economic condition of different communities.They said the government’s decision to use an open-ended question to record caste details could lead to problems. “Your government has chosen the method of recording caste information in the census using open-ended questions, which is misleading,” they said in the letter.The leaders said the same caste could have different names, sub-castes and spellings in different parts of India. If people from the same caste are recorded under different names, one caste could end up being counted as several different groups.“This will result in millions of castes in the country, rendering the entire data obtained from the caste census useless,” the letter said.Kharge and Rahul Gandhi said this could lead to incorrect estimates of the size of different communities. They said this could affect decisions on education, jobs, government planning and social justice schemes.They also said the proposed census would not give an accurate figure for the total OBC population because the questionnaire does not include the term “backward class”.Kharge, Rahul suggest caste listThe Congress leaders suggested using a fixed list of castes through a drop-down option instead of allowing people to enter caste names freely.They said such a list could be prepared using existing government lists, including the Socially and Educationally Backward Classes list and information from the Anthropological Survey of India.They cited the caste surveys conducted in Telangana and Bihar, saying both used caste lists. Copies of the caste lists from the Telangana Caste Survey-2024 and Bihar Caste Survey-2022 were attached to the letter.“We do not accept this method of conducting a caste census,” Kharge and Rahul Gandhi said.They asked the government to cancel the current questionnaire and prepare a new one after consulting political parties, experts and the public.They said the new method should ensure that the number of people belonging to each caste and community is recorded correctly.Follow the latest breaking news, major developments and agenda-setting stories from India and around the world with the newsdesk at Hindustan Times. Operating round the clock, the desk brings together experienced editors, reporters and correspondents to deliver fast, accurate and contextual reporting across subjects that influence public policy, governance, business, society and international affairs.