BJP MP Nishikant Dubey.
Credit: PTI Photo
New Delhi: BJP MP Nishikant Dubey on Tuesday raked up the caste remarks made by former Union minister Anurag Thakur in the Lok Sabha against Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi and said the Congress leader does not have a caste.
Participating in a debate on the Finance Bill, Dubey referred to Thakur's remarks, in which he had questioned the leader of opposition about his caste.
"I do not completely agree with what Anurag Thakur said the other day. I would like to apologise on his behalf in this House," the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP said.
"The allegation he made about caste is wrong.... There is no caste. He (Gandhi) says, I am not what I appear.... So he is a hermit," the member of Parliament from Godda in Jharkhand said.
"It is said that you should not ask about the caste of a hermit," he added.
Dubey further attacked the Congress over its demand for a nationwide caste census.
"Anurag Singh Thakurji made a mistake.... But I want to ask the Congress, many people in this country do not believe in religion, caste.... How will they participate in a caste-based census?" he asked.
Thakur's apparent reference to Gandhi's caste during a discussion on the Union Budget in the Lok Sabha on July 30 triggered an ugly spat between the members of the opposition and treasury benches.
"The one whose caste is not known is talking about a (caste) census," Thakur had said.
Dubey also said he has brought with him the Congress's poll manifestos from 1952 to 1990 and claimed that the documents show the opposition party is against reservation for the Other Backward Classes (OBC).
He also alleged that the Congress wants to bring reservations for Christians and Muslims through the back door.