Modi is upper caste: Mayawati's stunning claim in Varanasi

Attempting to stop the non-Yadav backward community votes consolidating around the BJP in the last phase of the UP polls, BSP chief Mayawati has said Prime Minister Narendra Modi is “from the upper caste”.

Addressing a gathering at the Jagatpur Degree College on the outskirts of Varanasi, which also saw roadshows by Modi and the SP-Congress alliance leaders Akhilesh Yadav and Rahul Gandhi, Mayawati said the prime minister brought his Ghanchi caste — equivalent to Teli in Uttar Pradesh — under the OBC category after he became Gujarat chief minister, and is misleading people.

Devoting much of her speech questioning Modi’s caste, Mayawati said the BJP has its own share of “daagi” (tainted) and “baagi” (rebel) candidates.

She also said the BJP has always appointed Brahmins and other upper caste leaders to head its state unit and has installed Keshav Prasad Maurya closer to the elections only to mislead people.

In contrast, she said the BSP has always projected leaders from backward castes like Maurya, Rajbhar, Koiri, Pal and Baghel.

Prior to the last phase, the BJP was working hard to bring the leaders of the smaller communities into its fold. It claimed their support is a natural process since the MBCs votedfor the lotus in the previous six phases, strengthening the party’s position to recapture UP after 14 years.

Mayawati, however, warned the Dalits and OBCs that the BJP would undo or significantly cut down the reservation benefits to realise the RSS agenda once it returns to power.

“Even the backward castes would face the consequences,” she warned, recalling that the BJP pulled the plug on the V P Singh government, which was keen to implement the Mandal Commission’s recommendations. I have information from reliable sources that the BJP will rescind reservation for Dalits and the backward castes if it forms the (next) government in UP,” she claimed.

Countering Modi’s charges that the BSP took money to distribute tickets, the former chief minister said rebel BJP leaders who joined her party told her that the saffron party traded its tickets for money.

Accusing the BJP of not delivering on its promises made during the 2014 polls and covering its failings with “drama”, Mayawati said people are ready to pack off their “adopted” son to Gujarat and bless their “daughter”.

She claimed the plans implemented during the Akhilesh regime were drawn up during her tenure, adding that the SP government’s pension scheme is nothing but a repackaged version of the Maha Maya Garib Arthic Yojna.