JD(U) casts doubts over PM Modi’s OBC status

Kumar pointed out that Modi has been accused of getting his caste, ‘Modh Ghanchi', included in the OBC list in 2002

Patna: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) has alleged that the Narendra Modi government was reluctant to hold a caste census out of fear that “falsehood” about the prime minister’s OBC status would be exposed.

Addressing a press conference at the JD(U) headquarters here, the party’s MLC and chief spokesperson Neeraj Kumar questioned the claim made by Modi that he belonged to an “ati pichhda” (extremely backward classes) community.

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Kumar pointed out that Modi has been accused of getting his caste, ‘Modh Ghanchi’, included in the OBC list in 2002 when he was the chief minister of Gujarat.

“Modi sought to deny the allegation by claiming it was done way back in 1994 when the Congress ruled Gujarat as well as the Centre,” added the JD(U) leader on Saturday.

Kumar showed a sheet of paper claiming it was the Gazette of India of that year, mentioning the castes that were included among Other Backward Classes (OBC).

“The Ghanchi caste has six sub groups out of which only one, Ghanchi (Muslim), was there in the list of OBCs in 1994,” said Kumar, challenging the BJP to repudiate his claim.

The JD(U) leader also alleged that Modi had got the ‘Modh Ghanchis’ included because of an obsession with electoral gains.

He also claimed that the prime minister’s caste, as per the 1931 Census, had a literacy rate at par with Brahmins and higher than Rajputs and, hence, did not need benefits extended to OBCs.

“There are also documents on record to show that in the early 19th century, Modh Ghanchis had been petitioning the British government that they be counted among Baniyas, and not among Ghanchis, with whom they never interdined or had matrimonial alliances,” the JD(U) leader said.

The caste survey conducted by the Nitish Kumar government has created a buzz across the country, he asserted.

“But the Centre baulks at holding a caste census because of the fear that the falsity to which recourse was taken in Gujarat, may get exposed,” Kumar said.

Addressing a public meeting in Uttar Pradesh in April 2019, the PM had declared that he was not just an OBC, but was “born” into the “most-backward caste”.