New Delhi, Jul 31 (IANS): The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday came out in strong defence of Anurag Thakur’s caste reference to the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and blasted the Congress-led INDIA bloc over its ‘duplicity’.

Addressing a press conference, BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra said that the Congress has turned ‘arrogant’ after fetching 99 seats in the 18th Lok Sabha and added that the behaviour of Rahul and Congress parliamentarians in the House was ‘unpardonable’ over caste controversy.

“When Anurag Thakur spoke on the Budget, he didn’t name anyone. But, one person (Rahul Gandhi) stood up in protest and claimed that he was insulted. Other Opposition lawmakers also joined in, on his gesture. Such behaviour defies all constitutional norms,” he said.

Patra, a first-time BJP MP from Odisha, further said that Rahul has been enquiring about everybody’s caste but wants to remain immune to similar questions. This speaks highly of his and his party’s duplicity and double standards, he added.

Citing some previous incidents, he said that the Congress leader enquired about the caste of journalists and asked what was the motive behind it.

The BJP MP, further questioning the very basis and rationale of Congress’ demand for caste-based census, said that the party wants to know the caste of every single individual in the country but wants to keep itself out of its ambit.

He said that the Congress MP has been asking about the caste of bureaucrats, judges and even armed forces and accused him of engineering a division in society on caste lines.

“By demanding which caste has how much representation in the Armed forces, which religion accounts for how much personnel, what does he want to achieve,” he questioned.

The BJP MP also accused Rahul Gandhi of creating confusion and stoking controversy over Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s caste affiliation.

Notably, Anurag Thakur’s caste swipe at the Leader of Opposition (LOP) on Tuesday saw the Congress party and its allies up in arms and raising loud protests.

“Those without any caste are pushing for caste-based census,” a BJP MP said in a pointed jibe at the Congress MP.

Akhilesh Yadav too stood up in protest and launched a tirade at the treasury benches.

“How can you ask about the caste? Nobody can ask about it”, he said angrily.