Modi Belongs To Upper Caste, Assumed OBC Identity To Use Quota Benefits: Mayawati

Launching an attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi today, Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati said that he doesn’t belong to the Other Backward Class (OBC) and got himself registered as one only to gain benefits from reservation. She made a similar claim in November 2016, accusing him of misusing his powers as the Chief Minister of Gujarat to get his caste included in the list of OBCs. Congress has also made similar assertions in the past.

She also added that because the Prime Minister belonged to an upper caste he wanted to end reservation for SC/STs and OBCs. In such a scenario, she claimed, only BSP could stop him from doing so.

This statement comes at a time when assembly election in Uttar Pradesh is nearing an end. Voting for five out of total seven phases has already taken place.

In 2014, after local Congress politicians in Gujarat claimed that Modi belongs to the upper caste, Gujarat government clarified that he comes from the “Modh Ghanchi” caste which was added to OBC category in 1994.

Many critics of Modi, including Achyut Yagnik, the co-author of The Shaping of Modern Gujarat and a Modi critic, have said that he belongs to the OBC category. “The Modh Ghanchi community is part of the Other Backward Classes in Gujarat. They are NOT upper castes,” Yagnik has been quoted as saying.