PM isn't OBC by birth, lying about caste: Rahul Gandhi

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a public address in Odisha's Jharsuguda on Thursday, alleging that the PM had misled the public about his caste identity. Gandhi claimed that Modi, contrary to popular belief, did not belong to the Other Backward Class (OBC) but hailed from the Teli community.

“PM Modi was not born in the OBC category. He was born Teli caste in Gujarat The community was given the tag of OBC in the year 2000 by the BJP. He was born in the General caste…He will not allow caste census to be conducted in his entire life because he was not born in OBC, he was born in General caste,” Gandhi said.

 In his address, Gandhi did not limit his criticism to the BJP alone but also targeted the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) led by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. He remarked that when it comes to their treatment of Adivasis, there's little to distinguish between the BJP and the BJD.

The Congress leader asserted that, "apart from the letters "P" and "D" in their names, they're practically identical." He went further to suggest that there's a concerted effort in Odisha to unlawfully seize Adivasi land.