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Journalism of Courage
Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on Thursday found himself in another row during his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’s Odisha leg by claiming Prime Minister Narendra Modi was “not born an OBC“, prompting a sharp retort from the Centre.
“He was born a Teli, which was in the general category, and it was the BJP which included them in the OBC category in 2000,” the Wayanad MP said, later revising it to say Modi was a “Modh Ghanchi” in Chhattisgarh.
“Modi ji was not born OBC. Modi is from Modh Ghachi caste in Gujarat and the state government gave it OBC status in 2000. Your Prime Minister (Modi) was not of OBC caste. He was from general caste. For 24 hours, he says he is OBC but Modiji you are not OBC, you are from general caste,” Rahul said.
Accusing Modi of “fooling the people”, he said this was why his government was not in favour of a nationwide caste census as it was essentially meant to determine the real proportion of different castes and groups.
According to the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC), members of the Teli community in Gujarat are oil millers by occupation and are involved in the traditional craft of “tel ghani (oil extraction)”.
On July 25, 1994, Gujarat government led by Congress’s Chief Minister Chhabildas Mehta had issued a resolution while adding the Ghanchi community among the list of Socially and Economically Backward Classes (SEBCs).
Another resolution of the Gujarat government – dated June 20, 1995 and seen by The Indian Express, places the Teli and Modh Ghanchi communities at number 25A in the list while the Ghanchi (Muslims) are placed at number 25.
“From now on , as per the SEBC list, caste certificates should be issued as per entry 25 – Ghanchi (Muslim) or as per entry 25A – Teli and Modh Ghanchi (Hindu),” the 1995 government resolution states.
A public hearing of the Gujarat Bench of the NCBC was held in Ahmedabad in August 1997 to include Telis as well as 16 other sub-castes, including the Modh Ghanchis in the Central list of OBCs.
The Teli community, represented by general secretary of the Gujarat State Tailik Sahu Mahasabha, N S Chaudhari, submitted that the Telis and Modh Ghanchis were not included in the Central list on the basis of the “principle of commonality”, as they found a place in the Mandal list, but the Ghanchi (Muslims) featured in both.
“Those present at the public hearing not only did not object to the inclusion of Teli and Modh Ghanchi as synonyms of Ghanchi (Muslim) in the Central list of OBCs but also supported it,” the NCBC noted and recommended the inclusion of the Teli community in the list with retrospective effect from the date when the reservation for backward classes came into effect – September 8, 1993.
Following the recommendations of the NCBC, the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment amended the Central list and added the Telis and Modh Ghanchis to it in October 1999, around the time the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government led by the BJP came to power. The following year, the list was further amended to include the Teli Sahus, Teli Rathods and Teli Rathores.
Currently, the Central list of OBCs features 104 communities from Gujarat.
The Central government issued a short note titled “facts regarding Rahul Gandhi’s statement on PM’s caste”, in which it said the Modh Ghanchi caste was included in Gujarat’s list of socially and economically backward classes and OBCs. The note added that the notification to include the sub-group in the list of OBCs was issued on July 25, 1994 — when the state was helmed by the Congress.
“The same sub-group was included (in) OBC (list) as per a Government of India notification dated April 4, 2000. When both notifications were released, Shri Narendra Modi was not in power, and was not holding an executive office at the time,” the Centre’s response said.
Modi assumed charge as the CM of Gujarat in 2001, a post which he held till 2014 when he became the Prime Minister.
On Thursday evening, demanding an apology from Rahul, BJP leader Narhari Amin posted on X: “I was serving as the Deputy Chief Minister of Gujarat in the Congress Government when GoG (Government of Gujarat) notified Modh-Ghanchi as OBC on 25th July 1994. This is the same caste our respected Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi belongs to. Mr. @RahulGandhi is insulting the OBC communities by cooking up mindless lies on this issue. This decision, and the subsequent GoI notification came when Shri @narendramodi was not even MP/MLA, forget being CM.”
