Rahul Gandhi on Thursday contested Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s claim of being from the Other Backward Classes, alleging he was “lying to the entire country” and that he had been born into a “general caste”.

The Congress had made the same allegation in 2014, too, but the issue has been revived now that the INDIA bloc has made a nationwide caste census a key campaign plank for the general election. Rahul’s comments were meant to confront Modi’s attempt to play down the social justice plank by projecting himself as a symbol of OBC politics.

“Modi said in Parliament, ‘What is the need for OBC representation because I am from the OBC’. I want to tell you, Narendra Modi was not born an OBC. You all are being dangerously fooled,” Rahul told a meeting before the Nyay Yatra entered Chhattisgarh from Odisha.

“Modi was born into a general caste, not an OBC. He is a Teli (people who are in the edible oil business). His community was brought under the OBC category in 2000.”

Rahul added: “I don’t need to check his birth certificate. I know he is not an OBC because he never embraces an OBC. He never holds the hand of an OBC. He only holds Adani’s hand. He will never do a caste census. He is lying to the entire country. A caste census will be done by Rahul Gandhi.”

Addressing the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, Modi had said: “They are making a noise about social justice. They can’t see that I am the biggest OBC.”

On Thursday, the BJP rejected Rahul’s claim as a “blatant lie”.

The government too responded by issuing a brief note that said: “The Modh Ghanchi caste (and the sub-group to which Modi belongs) stands included in the Gujarat government’s list... of socially (and) educationally backward class and OBCs.”

It added: “After a survey in Gujarat, Mandal Commission prepared a list of OBCs under Index 91(A), which included the Modh Ghanchi caste. The Indian Government’s list (of) 105 OBC castes for Gujarat has also included Modh Ghanchi.”

The note said the Gujarat government had included the Modh Ghanchi in the OBC list in 1994 and the Centre in 2000 when Modi was not in power.

On Wednesday, Modi had accused the Congress of ill-treating B.R. Ambedkar, alleging the party had always committed injustice to the OBCs, Dalits and tribal communities.

The Congress contested the claim, saying the party had brought Ambedkar into Parliament and appointed him chairman of the drafting committee in the Constituent Assembly.