"Entire Nehru-Gandhi family against OBCs...": BJP counters Rahul Gandhi over remarks on PM Modi's caste

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi got his caste notified as an OBC in the year 1999, two years before he became the chief minster of Gujarat for the first time, the BJP said on Thursday.

Bharatiya Janata Party IT cell head Amit Malviya took to social media platform X today to write, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi got his caste notified as an OBC after he became the Chief Minister of Gujarat: Rahul Gandhi. This is a blatant lie. PM Narendra Modi's caste was notified as an OBC on Oct 27, 1999, a full 2 years BEFORE he became the Chief Minister of Gujarat.”

“The entire Nehru-Gandhi family, starting from Jawaharlal Nehru to Rahul Gandhi, have been against OBCs,” Malviya said attaching a gazette notification.

Malviya’s statement followed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s remark earlier today that Prime Minister Narendra Modi does not belong to the Other Backward Caste (OBC) community as he was born in a general category.

"Whenever BJP workers come to you, tell them one thing that our Prime Minister lied to the entire country that he belonged to the backward class. He was not born in a backward class, he belongs to the general caste. You tell this to every BJP worker," Rahul Gandhi said addressing a public rally in Jharsuguda during the Odisha leg of Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra.

PM Modi recently in Parliament called himself 'sabse bada OBC' (the biggest OBC) and accused the Congress of indulging in hypocrisy and adopting double standards while dealing with leaders of backward communities.

Replying to the debate on the motion of thanks in the Rajya Sabha, the Prime Minister on Wednesday countered Congress's repeated attacks on the Centre over reservation by quoting a letter written by Jawaharlal Nehru to states wherein the late former PM criticised the idea of quota in government jobs.

"I am reading out its translation - "I dislike any kind of reservation, more particularly in services. I am strongly against anything that leads to inefficiency and second-rate standards..," That is why I say that they are against it (reservation) by birth...Had the government recruited at that time and promoted them from time to time, they would have been here today," PM Modi said.

"This is a letter written by Nehru to state Chief Ministers. It shows that Congress has always been against reservation. Nehru ji used to say that if SC/ST/OBC get quotas in jobs, then the standard of government work will fall," the prime minister had said in the Upper House of Parliament.