The Congress is aghast at the BJP’s interpretation that Rahul Gandhi intended to malign the Other Backward Classes with his 2019 remark that has led to his conviction for defamation and disqualification as MP.

Rahul was quoted as saying: “Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi, Narendra Modi… how all these thieves bear the same surname ‘Modi’. If you search deeper, a few more will emerge.”

Congress leaders argue that the “OBC twist” given to the remark is spurious as Rahul was talking about corruption, and that the BJP’s contention rests on the false premise that the two fugitives from Indian justice Rahul named are representatives of the backward castes.

The Congress has long maintained that the BJP has a tendency to play on the credulity of the masses to win elections, and that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is himself not above using such tactics.

Priyanka Gandhi on Sunday said the Bharat Jodo Yatra’s messaging of equality and harmony would define Rahul rather than the charge levelled by a desperate BJP.

Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot claimed that Narendra Modi had averted a defeat for the BJP in the Gujarat elections of 2017 by playing up Mani Shankar Aiyar’s sobriquet of “neech (vile)” and portraying it as an attack on Modi’s caste origins.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge posed a fundamental question: Are Lalit Modi, Mehul Choksi and Nirav Modi OBCs or their representatives?

Speaking at the satyagraha at Rajghat in protest against Rahul’s disqualification, Priyanka said: “They say Rahul defamed India and OBCs. Somebody who walks 4,000km from Kanyakumari to Kashmir to spread the message of peace and harmony will do that? The leader who talks daily about equality and unity will defame a community? It’s all a diversionary ploy on the part of the government.”

There is no evidence that Rahul has ever borne any grudge against the OBCs or practised the politics of caste.

He had been instrumental in OBC leader P.C. Siddaramaiah’s appointment as Karnataka chief minister in 2013, and had surprised the country by giving Punjab its first Dalit chief minister in Charanjit Singh Channi.

Two other Congress chief ministers — Ashok Gehlot (Rajasthan) and Bhupesh Baghel (Chhattisgarh) — are OBCs. In Himachal Pradesh, Rahul chose Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu, a Rajput from an ordinary family, as chief minister ignoring the claims of the royal family to which the late Virbhadra Singh belonged.

Mallikarjun Kharge, a Dalit, would not have become Congress president without Rahul’s backing.

Kharge rubbished the OBC angle injected into the discourse, saying: “Rahul was speaking against thieves and looters. Why are you (BJP) standing with thieves and looters?”

He added: “Jo corruption ke khilaf bolta hai usey aap sansad se bahar bhejte ho. Aur jo bank lootata hai use desh se bahar bhejte ho (You throw the leader who speaks against corruption out of Parliament. And you facilitate the escape of criminals who loot banks).

“Why do you link thieves to OBCs? If we call these people looters, why do you feel the pain? Why do you support the fugitives? Lootna bandh karo (Stop the loot). You call yourself patriots, then why did you let them escape?”

Gehlot said: “The OBC charge is an experiment by the BJP They are planning to run a campaign to mislead the people about Rahul insulting OBCs. Is Lalit Modi an OBC? Is Mehul Choksi an OBC? Is Nirav Modi an OBC?”

Lalit Modi comes from a rich, upper caste Marwari family and Nirav Modi is a diamond trader belonging to the Jain community.

“I am from an OBC community and the Congress made me chief minister three times,” Gehlot said.