Caste census: After declining it for years, RSS leader backs caste census

Rahtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) leader Suresh Bhaiyyaji Joshi. File
| Photo Credit: KOMMURI SRINIVAS

Reacting to the Union Cabinet’s deciision to include caste enumeration as part of the next census, Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) leader Suresh Bhaiyyaji Joshi on Wednesday (April 30, 2025) said that whatever is necessary for the country should be done.

Speaking to media briefly, Mr Joshi said that the date of the census will be decided by the government when the right time will come. Mr Joshi, on several occasions in the past, had declined the idea of caste census and so did the RSS, the ideological parent of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

For instance, around this time of the year 2010, just moths before census was conducted in 2011, amid the demands of including casts in the same, Mr Joshi, who was the then joint secretary of the organisation, had said that registration of categories is fine but caste registration is not a good idea. He added that caste-based census is against the idea of a casteless society.

Since then, on several occasions for over a decade, RSS maintained its distance from the caste census, claiming that its not part of the idea of the society as envisioned by seniors leaders of the organisation and for that matter even by the Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar. 

In 2023, Shridhar Gadge, a senior RSS functionary had questioned the need for the caste census and added that this may benefit some people politically but it is not good for national unity.

In a surprising change, in September 2024, during its council meeting in Kerala’s Plakkad, the Sangh Parivar came out openly in support of the caste census but claimed that the same should be done for the purpose of the welfare of downtrodden communities and it should not used for electoral gains.

Sunil Ambekar, RSS national publicity in-charge had said, “For all welfare activities addressing to the particularly community or caste which is lagging behind and which needs special attention for certain castes and communities, government need numbers. It is well practised. It has taken such numbers earlier also, it can again take such numbers. But it should only to address the welfare of those communities and should not be used as political tool for electioneering. So we put it with caution for everyone.”