The Congress claimed on Thursday the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi doesn’t belong to any backward caste, but was in fact born into an upper caste “Vaishya” family, that is given title of “Modh”, for being super rich, like Mod Brahmin and Modh Bania.
Alleging Modi was a “fake OBC”, former Gujarat Assembly opposition leader Shaktisinh Gohil armed with documents said Modi belonged to a Vaishya sub-caste the “Modh Ghanchi”, a microscopic minority found only in Gujarat. “He, in fact, belongs to the upper caste since he comes from a prosperous business community,” said Gohil.
Gohil further contested Modi’s claim of being a tea-seller, saying his uncle ran a canteen at a state road transport office, where Modi used to sit occasionally. Gohil’s disclosure came at an AICC press briefing here, when he said, “Here comes the “fake OBC” of Gujarat after the state is already getting a bad name for fake encounters.”
He went on, “If Modi is speaking the truth that he used to sell tea, he should disclose from which “larri” (cart) he used to do so, and there must be still many people of his age who used to have tea stalls in the area to vouch for his authenticity.”
Gohil flaunted a Gujarat government resolution dated January 1, 2002 that he had procured through the Right To Information Act (RTI) to show how Modi usurped the rights of Other Backward Castes (OBCs) by placing his rich “Modh Ghanchi” caste in the OBC category within four months of becoming chief minister.