The Haryana Congress on Wednesday demanded a caste census, as the current process does not have a clearly defined caste-counting mechanism.

A party delegation led by former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, All India Congress Committee (AICC) in-charge Sanjay Dutt, state unit president Rao Narender met the governor and handed over a memorandum. The memorandum is addressed to the President.

A party spokesperson said party leaders participated in the state level ‘OBC Rights Rally’ organised at the Haryana Congress office in Chandigarh. Hooda said that a caste census is crucial to ensure the representation of all castes and sections of society in the country.

He said Rahul Gandhi spearheaded a nationwide campaign on this issue and vowed to compel the ruling BJP to conduct such a census. Ultimately, under pressure from the Congress and public sentiment, the BJP was forced to announce a caste census in Parliament. “However, it now appears that this was merely a deception; the census currently underway lacks any column for caste,” he said.

Hooda urged the government not only to include a separate column for caste but also to implement a caste coding system that ensures accurate identification, even when the same caste is known by different names across various regions and states. He advocated for the use of a ‘unique scientific caste code’ for this purpose.