Addressing a public rally in Odisha during Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, Gandhi said, “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 entire life because he was not born in OBC, he was born in General caste.”
“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.”
This comes after PM Modi called himself ‘sabse bada OBC’ (the biggest OBC) in Parliament 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.
Gandhi made these statements during the third and concluding day of the Odisha leg while clarifying that the ideals behind caste-census and the Congress-led yatra are not different. “There was a very interesting topic in a press conference yesterday when a reporter asked me why I talk of caste census and ‘Bharat Jodo’ at the same time.”
“So I said that do you know how many adivasis are there in the country? I’ll tell you. 8% Adivasis. 15% Dalits and 50-55% OBC. You tell me not to raise voice against casteism but the media people should look around and see if there is even one dalit or adivasi sitting among them. Show me a worker from the scheduled castes in any of the top 200 biggest companies of India. Forget these companies, can you show me the correct representation of these numbers within the Indian government?” he asked.
Gandhi alleged that PM Modi does not shake hands with OBCs, but ‘hugs billionaires’. Gandhi also stopped his speech in the middle to let an ambulance pass.
Clad in a white t-shirt, the former Congress president resumed the yatra on Thursday from the Old Bus Stand here and moved towards Kissan Chowk in an open jeep. He was accompanied by AICC leader Ajoy Kumar and OPCC president Sarat Pattnayak. The yatra will enter Chhattisgarh in the afternoon from Odisha and then go on a two-day break.
“The Yatra will re-enter Jharkhand on the morning of the 14th, and thereafter re-enter Bihar on the morning of the 15th. On the afternoon of February 16th, the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra will enter Uttar Pradesh,” Congress General Secretary in-charge Communications Jairam Ramesh said on X.
The Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra commenced its journey from Thoubal in Manipur on January 14. Spanning over 6,700 kilometers across 110 districts, this expedition will last for 67 days. Covering a vast terrain, it will traverse through 100 Lok Sabha constituencies, 337 assembly segments, and 110 districts, ultimately reaching its destination in Mumbai on March 20.
This yatra is a sequel to the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra,’ during which Rahul Gandhi embarked on a foot journey covering more than 3,000 kilometers from Kanyakumari to Srinagar. Unlike its predecessor, Yatra 2.0 incorporates a hybrid format, blending various modes of transportation for its extensive voyage.