Rahul Gandhi claims PM Modi not born as OBC, belong to general caste

JHARSUGUDA (Odisha): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi does not belong to the Other Backward Caste (OBC) community as he was born in a general category.

Addressing a public rally during the Odisha leg of Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra here, the Wayanad MP said, “Whenever BJP workers come to you, tell them one thing, that our Prime Minister lied to the entire country that he belonged to the backward class. He was not born in a backward class, he belongs to the general caste. You tell this to every BJP worker”.

#WATCH | Congress MP Rahul Gandhi says, "PM Modi was not born in the OBC category. He was born Teli caste in Gujarat. The community was given the tag of OBC in the year 2000 by the BJP. He was born in the General caste…He will not allow caste census to be conducted in his… pic.twitter.com/AOynLpEZkK

— ANI (@ANI) February 8, 2024

This comes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, recently in Parliament, called himself ‘sabse bada OBC’ (the biggest OBC) and accused the Congress of indulging in hypocrisy and adopting double standards while dealing with leaders of Backward communities.

“Congress party and UPA government did not deliver justice with OBCs. A few days ago, Karpoori Thakur ji was conferred with Bharat Ratna. In 1970, when he became Bihar CM, what was not done to destabilise his government? Congress can’t tolerate OBCs…They keep counting how many OBCs are there in government. Can’t you (Congress) see the biggest OBC here (pointing towards himself)?” PM Modi said in his reply to the ‘Motion of Thanks’ on the President’s Address in Lok Sabha on Monday.

PM Modi continued his attack on the UPA government and said that the previous government did not deliver justice to OBCs. “During the UPA Government, an extra-constitutional body was formed. The government could not have its way before that body. National Advisory Council – did it have any OBC members? Find out,” he added.

The Odisha leg of the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra is scheduled to be completed this afternoon before going on a two-day break from February 9-10. The yatra will resume on February 11 from Chhattisgarh.

Earlier on Wednesday, the 25th day of the Nyay Yatra, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, visited Vedvyas Dham in the Sundergarh district of Western Odisha. The cave of this temple is considered to be the place where sage and poet Ved Vyas ji composed the Mahabharata.

Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra rolled out from Manipur’s Thoubal on January 14. The yatra will cover over 6,700 kilometres over 67 days, traversing through 110 districts. It will cover a distance of 6,713 km, straddling 100 Lok Sabha constituencies and 337 assembly segments and covering 110 districts.

The yatra will conclude in Mumbai on March 20, after 67 days. A follow-up to the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ which saw Rahul Gandhi cover more than 3,000 km on foot — from Kanyakumari to Srinagar — the Yatra 2.0 is following a hybrid format. (ANI)