Education minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Thursday accused Rahul Gandhi of “arrogance and hypocrisy”, seeking to dismiss his effort to claim credit for the Centre’s decision to make caste enumeration a part of the next population census.

The BJP fielded Pradhan, a prominent OBC face, at the party headquarters a day after Rahul claimed the government had buckled under pressure from him and agreed to a caste census. The Congress broadcast the stand throughout Thursday.

“When the decision (for a caste census) was made yesterday, some people were visibly agitated. They said, ‘The government is theirs (the BJP’s), but the system is ours (the Opposition’s)’,” Pradhan said.

“But the question is, who was in control of the government and the system in 1951? Why was this decision not taken then? This could not happen because the whole of the Congress — including the first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru — was the staunchest opponent of caste-based reservations.”

Pradhan focused on painting the Nehru-Gandhi family as enemies of the
deprived sections.

He claimed that had “Bapu” (Mahatma Gandhi), Babasaheb Ambedkar and the Constituent Assembly not been there, the Congress would not have allowed reservations since Nehru was allegedly opposed to them.

The minister cited the formation of the Mandal Commission under the Janata Party government in 1977 and stressed that the BJP’s predecessor (Jana Sangh) was part of that coalition government.

“The sin of keeping the Mandal Commission report locked in a dungeon for 10 years was committed. In whose hands was the ‘government and system’ then?” Pradhan said.

“When the Mandal Commission was implemented, what was the statement of former Prime Minister Rajivji? What was the stand of
the Congress?”

He added: “The arrogance and hypocrisy of those saying the government is theirs but the system is ours is being exposed.”