Congress raises questions over Narendra Modi’s OBC status, calls out alleged deception in caste identity

NEW DELHI: The Congress on Friday questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s OBC status and claimed that he is ”misleading” the country in the name of his caste.

The opposition party’s remarks came a day after former party chief Rahul Gandhi thanked the BJP for ”confirming” that Prime Minister Modi was not born into an Other Backward Class (OBC) family.

Gandhi, while making a brief speech in Odisha’s Jharsuguda during the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, had said Modi was born into a family that belonged to the general category.

LIVE: Congress party briefing by Shri @shaktisinhgohil at AICC HQ. https://t.co/UXYe45yb7T

— Congress (@INCIndia) February 9, 2024

The BJP on Thursday rubbished as ”blatant lie” Gandhi’s claim that Modi got his caste included in the list of Other Backward Classes in Gujarat when he was the state’s chief minister.

Addressing a press conference at the Congress headquarters here, the party’s Gujarat unit president and Rajya Sabha MP Shaktisinh Gohil said that the BJP spreads ”lies” repeatedly and claimed that Prime Minister Modi is not an OBC by birth.

Citing a Gujarat government notification, Gohil said that the date of the notification is January 1, 2002, when Narendra Modi himself was the chief minister of Gujarat.

”According to the notification, new castes were added, among them were Ghanchi Muslim, Teli, Modh Ghanchi, Teli Sahu, Teli Rathore,” he said.

”There is no mention of Modi community anywhere in this notification issued on January 1, 2002…Modi was neither an OBC before nor is he today,” Gohil alleged.

PM Modi is ”misleading” the country in the name of his caste, he said.

”So Modi ji is neither a Ghanchi, nor a Teli, nor a lower caste, he belongs to Modi which is super upper caste,” Gohil claimed.

Gohil asked that if Modi is the ”biggest OBC” then why does he not write Modi Ghanchi or Modi Teli in front of his name.

Source: Press Trust of India