Rahul Gandhi vs Anurag Thakur over ‘caste’ remark: 'He insulted me' | Watch

Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday accused BJP MP Anurag Thakur of “insulting and abusing” him in the Lok Sabha during the discussion on the Union Budget. Reacting to Thakur's jibe that those whose caste is unknown talk about the caste census, Gandhi said whoever raises the issues of Adivasi, Dalit and the backwards gets abused.

"Those whose caste is not known, talk about the caste census. I want to remind the Speaker that in this House itself, a former prime minister RG-1 had opposed reservation for OBCs," BJP MP Anurag Thakur said in the House.

Rahul Gandhi, who promised the nation to carry out a nationwide caste census if the INDIA bloc came to power at the Centre, reiterated his promise.

"You can insult me as much as you like but we will pass the caste census in Parliament," Gandhi said.

Later Thakur said he didn't name anyone in his remark.

"I had said that someone who doesn't know about caste talks about census. I did not name anyone," he said.

Gandhi later accused Thakur of abusing and insulting him. He, however, said he didn't want any apology from him.

"Whoever raises the issues of Adivasi, Dalit and the backward, is abused. I will happily accept these abuses...Anurag Thakur has abused me and insulted me. But I do not want any apology from him," he added.

The caste census was one of the Congress party's flagship promises in the 2024 general elections. Ahead of the polls, Rahul Gandhi had called the exercise an X-ray of India.

“No one knows how many backwards, Dalits and tribals are there (in the country)? Those who form the biggest chunks of the population don’t know their numbers. The BJP government does not want caste data. However, we will get an X-ray of India done to ascertain the population of various caste groups. The country will change once the caste census is done,” he had said.

The BJP accuses the Congress of trying to divide the country on caste lines.

With inputs from PTI, ANI