Modi not OBC by birth, says Rahul; BJP mounts attack

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was not born into an other backward classes (OBC) family and was fooling people about his caste background, prompting a furious response from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and condemnation from senior ministers.

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Gandhi's comments came in Belpahar area of Jharsuguda district of Odisha during his ongoing Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, a day after Modi launched a blistering attack on the Congress over its social justice credentials and said that India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, opposed reservations.

"He [Modi] says he was born an OBC...Modi was not born into OBC. You are being fooled," Gandhi said. He added that Modi's community was included in the OBC category when the BJP was in power in 2000. "He changed his caste to OBC after becoming the CM of Gujarat. Therefore, Modi ji is not an OBC by birth," the Congress MP said.

Gandhi also said he did not need a birth certificate to make the allegation against Modi. "The biggest indicator is he never hugs any OBC person. He does not hold the hands of any labourer. He only holds Adani's hand. Modi will never conduct a caste census because he was not born into the OBC category. Only the Congress will do a caste-based census."