BJP, Congress spar over PM Modi's OBC status; Rahul thanks saffron party for 'confirmation'

New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday ignited a political debate after he said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was not born into a Other Backward Caste community, but that his caste was notified within the purview of OBC in 2000. Responding to Gandhi’s charge, the BJP said that his caste was notified on October 27, 1999, two years before Modi became chief minister of Gujarat. A note circulated by the government said that Modi’s caste, Modh Ghanchi, was included in a list made by the Mandal Commission.

While speaking at a rally during the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra at Belpahar in Odisha’s Jharsuguda, Gandhi said that Modi was born into the Teli caste in Gujarat. “The BJP notified his caste as OBC. Your Prime Minister is not an OBC, he was born in a general caste; he is misleading the entire country by claiming himself to be an OBC,” Gandhi said. 

Gandhi’s attack elicited a sharp reply from the government with the National Commission for Backward Classes demanding an apology from Gandhi. In a release, the Modh Ghanchi caste, to which Modi belongs is among 104 castes and communities in the Central List of OBCs from Gujarat. 

“The National Commission for Backward Classes tendered advice to (the) Union Government on 15.11.1997 for inclusion of Modh-Ghanchi in the Central List of OBCs for the State of Gujarat and Gazette Notification for the same was issued on 27.10.1999. The Advice of the National Commission for Backward Classes for inclusion of Modh-Ghanchi in the Central List of OBCs for the State of Gujarat was ordinarily binding on the Union Government,” the release states. 

When both of these decisions were taken, the NCBC said, Modi held no legislative or executive position. In 1992, the state had a Congress-Janata Dal government in power, while in 1997 a BJP government under Keshubhai Patel was in power in the state. It must also be noted that OBC communities were identified as such in 1992 after a Supreme Court judgement by Indira Sawhney. 

In response, Gandhi “thanked” the government for proving his point. “Modi ji is not an OBC by birth but is a ‘kagzi OBC’ (OBC on paper). He was not an OBC until 5 decades after his birth. Thanks to the BJP government for confirming this,” Gandhi posted. 

Several BJP leaders also issued the 1999 gazette notification to prove their point. BJP Rajya Sabha MP Narhari Amin, in a post on X, said that he was serving as the Deputy Chief Minister of Gujarat in the Congress Government when the Modh-Ghanchi was notified as OBC on July 25, 1994. 

Government sources also circulated a note saying that after a survey in Gujarat, the Mandal Commission prepared a list of OBCs under Index 91(A), which included the Modh Ghanchi caste. “The Indian government's list (of) 105 OBC castes for Gujarat has also included Modh Ghanchi caste,” the note read. 

The Congress, in a rebuttal, released a Gujarat government notification from January 2002 where the case was notified as OBC.