New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi sought to corner the SP-BSP alliance and the Congress last week when he accused them of making his caste — he belongs to the Other Backward Classes — a talking point.
“Mayawati ji, I am the most backward. I request with folded hands not to drag me into caste politics,” he said in Kannauj Saturday, targeting his diatribe at the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief.
His comment came a day after Mayawati accused him of faking his caste credentials for votes.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley also jumped to the PM’s defence Monday, asserting that he had never indulged in caste politics, and only counted on the politics of development for votes.
However, Jaitley’s assertion isn’t quite accurate — right from his days as a PM-aspirant ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Modi has often invoked his caste as a rhetorical tool, mainly to question the Congress “elite”. He uses this card in Hindi heartland states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, where caste dominates electoral discourse and the PM’s other pet issues are likely to have less traction.
In the last two weeks of April alone, Modi used his caste four times on the campaign trail.
Also read: Narendra Modi speech all about what’s wrong with Congress & right with him
Past instances
2014 poll campaign: Modi’s first reference to caste came on 20 January 2014, the final day of the BJP’s National Council meeting. Just before that, Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar had made the infamous remark that Modi could never become PM, but was welcome to sell tea at the venue of a Congress meeting.
Modi replied: “The Congress feels it is not good to fight a tea seller from a lower caste whose mother was a maidservant.” Party leaders then took their prime ministerial candidate’s words and broadcast them across the country during the election campaign to garner support among the lower castes.
On 6 May, at a rally in Domariyaganj, UP, Modi again invoked his caste — this time as a retort to Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s comment that BJP leaders indulge in ‘neech rajneeti’ (low politics). Modi said: “I cannot deny I was born into a ‘neechi jaati’ (lower caste), but is that a crime?”
2015 Bihar elections: About a year-and-a-half after coming to power, Modi faced the Bihar assembly elections. The ‘Modi wave’ of 2014 and the development narrative was feeble, so Modi deployed the caste card. On 25 October 2014, at a rally in Nalanda, Modi described himself as the “son of a tea seller, who was born into an extremely backward family”. The next day, in Buxar, Modi said: “I understand the pain of being born in an extremely backward family.”
2017 Gujarat polls: The elections in the PM’s home state saw the BJP facing massive anti-incumbency after nearly 20 uninterrupted years in power. In addition, various caste groups like the Patidars led by Hardik Patel were agitating for reservation and other benefits.
Congress’ Mani Shankar Aiyar yet again provided ammunition for Modi to use — he called him ‘neech kism ka aadmi’ (lowlife). Modi cashed in at a rally in Surat, saying: “What all have they called us — donkeys, neech, gandi naali ke keede (gutter filth). The people of Gujarat will give a fitting reply to such deplorable language. They can call me ‘neech’ — yes, I am from the poor section of society and will spend every moment of my life working for the poor, Dalits, Tribals and OBCs.”
Also read: EC says Modi didn’t violate poll code with ‘majority is minority’ speech in Maharashtra
2019 Lok Sabha election campaign
In the last 15 days, PM Modi has invoked his caste four times:
17 April: Rahul Gandhi had wondered in a campaign speech why “all thieves have Modi in their name”. Modi responded by identifying himself as a backward caste man, and accusing Gandhi of abusing the entire community. Modi also accused the Congress of being anti-Dalit.
20 April: Modi again played the caste card in Uttar Pradesh. At a rally in Bareilly, Modi said his opponents were “so afraid of their performance in the first two phases of the elections that they come down and debate my caste”.
25 April: Taking on the SP-BSP alliance and the Congress, Modi said the former is playing politics over his caste, while the latter’s ‘naamdaar’ (dynast, a reference to Gandhi) called a whole community thieves because of his hatred for Modi.
27 April: Modi said at a rally in Kannauj: “Behenji (Mayawati) is distributing my caste certificate. Now that she has started it, I must tell you that I come from the most backward caste in Gujarat.”
This is one of the few articles which has questioned also the FM in the last 5 years? The PM, the Opposition leaders, the ruling party, business leaders, the intellectuals, the educational institutes all have been commented upon (and rightly so) but the FM do know why appears to move missed objective scrutiny.
Thank you Print.
May be Modi was reacting to BSP leader in the last 4 occasions mentioned in the article. But he has used his caste as a trump card in earlier instances right from 2014. His dramabazi has really fooled people over his caste.
In all the four instances, Modi was reacting.
It is different from agressively using caste for electoral gains.