‘OBC on paper’: Rahul Gandhi thanks BJP for confirming caste charge against PM Modi

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday doubled down on his claim that Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not belong to the Other Backward Classes (OBC) by birth, and thanked the BJP for proving his allegations true.

Gandhi’s reaction came after Union Minister Pralhad Joshi shared a gazette notification to show that PM Modi’s OBC status was “recognised on Oct 27, 1999, two years before he became Gujarat’s Chief Minister.”

Latching on to the gazette notification, Gandhi interpreted it as evidence of his “not OBC by birth” claim. In a post on X thanking the BJP for its “confirmation,” he asserted, “Modi ji is not OBC by birth, but OBC only on papers.”

The controversy stemmed from a speech by Gandhi in Odisha, where he alleged that PM Modi “misled the people” by claiming OBC status. He argued that PM Modi was not born into an OBC family and only received the designation in 2000, after becoming the Chief Minister of Gujarat.

This accusation sparked outrage from the BJP, with leaders calling it a “blatant lie” and demanding an apology. To counter Gandhi’s claim, the party’s IT cell head, Amit Malviya, shared a 1999 gazette notification online, showing PM Modi’s caste was officially categorised as OBC well before his Chief Ministership.

“…PM Narendra Modi’s caste was notified as an OBC on Oct 27, 1999, a full two years before he became the Chief Minister of Gujarat. The entire Nehru-Gandhi family, starting from Jawaharlal Nehru to Rahul Gandhi, have been against OBCs,” Malviya said.