Why caste census will not annihilate the foundations of inequality
Anand Teltumbde mines data and history to analyse the narrow framing, as well as futility, of a caste census in his new book
Paranjoy Guha Thakurta
Updated
12 Jan 2026, 04:20 PM IST
Teltumbde argues that the inherent definition of caste is divisive, and that the number of castes has recently multiplied.
Teltumbde argues that the inherent definition of caste is divisive, and that the number of castes has recently multiplied. (ISTOCKPHOTO)
Anand Teltumbde, an academic and an activist, has written an unusual book that seeks to combine scholarship with popular political rhetoric that is not always negative. Rhetoric is a way of speaking or writing that is intended to impress or influence people but is not always considered sincere. Teltumbde is not insincere. However, he is convinced that he has to provoke people to challenge the notion that the impending all-India caste census, the first since 1931, on which there is consensus cutting across political party lines and apparent ideological divisions, could represent a new beginning in re-emphasising the importance of caste in the country’s society and politics.
The author seeks to refute the view that only after a caste census is conducted can there be a forward movement towards identifying and then resolving the complex and multifarious issues surrounding social divisions in India to eventually achieve the laudable goal of the “annihilation of caste”—the title of the speech written in 1936 by B.R. Ambedkar that he was supposed to deliver in Lahore but did not.
The uniqueness of the caste system in Indian society, and the overlapping and intersections of caste and class, have been topics of innumerable books and writings over the centuries. Teltumbde refers to many of these in his book. A mere glance at the chapter titles reveals the wide range of topics the author has attempted to deal with. From the seeds of jati in ancient India, the impact of Brahminism, Buddhism and Islam, the colonial construction of caste, how the British sought to control, divide and rule, and onwards to what happened after 1947: the making of what the author calls “constitutional caste,” the B.P. Mandal Commission and the expansion of reservations in government jobs and admissions to government educational institutions. The writer also discusses the issue of reservation of jobs in the private sector.
Teltumbde delineates “data politics: miscounts and missed counts” before going into what he believes are the ploys used by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) before suddenly agreeing to a national caste census months before the recently concluded elections to the Bihar legislative assembly that was swept by the incumbent National Democratic Alliance.
When the BJP came to power in 2014, it inherited the raw data of the “socio-economic and caste census” (SECC) that was conducted in 2011 when the second United Progressive Alliance led by the Indian National Congress was in power. The socioeconomic data from the SECC was made public in 2015. Subsequent state-level caste surveys took place. But, as Teltumbde points out, the BJP government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has used various justifications to not release granular caste data generated by the SECC.
Nearly a century ago, the British government had identified 4,147 castes. The SECC returned more than ten times the number. Teltumbde argues that by its very definition, caste divides and in recent years the number of castes has only multiplied. Unlike certain advocates of social justice, he contends that counting and categorising castes will not help redress economic and social inequalities.
After elaborating on the definitions of Other Backward Classes (OBCs), extremely backward or most backward castes, and economically weaker sections, he argues that the consensus behind the caste-based census is nothing but a “con” to justify the title of the book.
Will there be a quota for everyone? Can annihilation of caste ever be reality? As the back cover blurb of the book states, Teltumbde “wades through” the history, the mathematics and the dynamics of these debates in an era where the government frequently “fudges the truth and numbers” to look at the future of reservation as affirmative action or negative discrimination and a “way out of the mess” we are supposed to be in.
The author—who has written four books since he was released on bail in November 2022 after he was charged and incarcerated for around two-and-a-half years under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act in the infamous Bhima Koregaon case—is even-handed in his criticism of most political parties, and not just the BJP. He contends that the census could, like reservations, be another method of governing and managing caste, as author Gyan Prakash notes in his commendation for the book.
The Left in India has for long argued that caste and class overlap more often than not, that it is next to impossible to find a Brahmin who cleans public toilets for a living, unlike locating a rich Dalit who not only firmly believes in the virtues of free enterprise but who flaunts her or his riches as a mark of political strength.
One prominent example would be that of Union minister Babu Jagjivan Ram, said to be an excellent administrator. Another, more recent example, would be former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati whose career appears to be currently at a rather low ebb. Yet, the Left parties, less so the Congress, do acknowledge during moments of introspection that their failure to appreciate the importance of caste has contributed in no small measure to their political marginalisation in many parts of the country.
Teltumbde says the current discourse on the caste census is “narrowly framed” and could become a “technocratic exercise aimed at recalibrating reservations for the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes” and OBCs.
The discourse is rarely “seen as a tool to expose the full spectrum of caste-based inequality, particularly the domination of elite castes who have historically cornered a disproportionate share of power, privilege and public resources.”
He adds that in its limited framing, the caste census “becomes a means to moderate petty squabbles over leftovers among the lower orders, rather than a challenge to the foundations of inequality itself.”
After leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi raised the issue of a caste census to challenge the Modi government, the BJP suddenly decided to support it after opposing it as a divisive move. The caste census would become a part of the forthcoming national census that has been postponed for the first time since the last few decades of the 20th century, for more than four years on rather specious grounds (notably, the covid-19 pandemic).
The general census, Teltumbde points out, was delayed with the “ulterior motive” of ensuring the completion of a delimitation exercise that would benefit the ruling regime in New Delhi and eliminate threats to its continuation. The author argues that the BJP’s political opponents would be naïve to under-estimate the ruling party’s ability to retain the support of the lower strata of the backward castes, and obtain new support from these sections of the population.
At a more general level, Teltumbde draws several comparisons with what is happening in India with developments in other countries such as the US and South Africa in terms of programmes of affirmative action, and the right-wing backlash against these. Closer home, he writes that in the absence of clarity on what kind of data is to be collected and for what purpose, the proposed caste census would not be transformative.
He may be correct but he is also sweeping in his generalisation that the country’s political climate is “intellectually starved.”
The demand for a caste census, he believes, has been advanced by an upwardly mobile minority even as the deprived majority has been pushed towards deprivation and made increasingly dependent on government doles.
One can disagree with him but, as other commentators and activists like Yogendra Yadav point out, you cannot disregard his arguments nor brush them aside easily.
In conclusion, Teltumbde claims that a caste census does not simply reflect Indian society; it reshapes it. He states that while the caste census is a “pragmatic measure” and may appear necessary at this juncture, the politics that follow must be guided by—and not become a substitute for—the ultimate goal of annihilation of caste.
Paranjoy Guha Thakurta is a journalist, author, publisher, maker of documentary films and music videos, and an occasional teacher.
