If by chance Modi were OBC, would RSS have let him become the PM, asks Mayawati

PTI, May 10, 2019, 1:59 PM IST

New Delhi: BSP supremo Mayawati has once again raked up Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s caste status and asked if the RSS would have let him become the PM if he were really from a backward caste.

“Modi ji is not an OBC since birth that is why he has not gone through the pain that they go through. He should have not given ‘jaativaad’ comment on our gathbandhan,” she said, referring to his statement where he said that unlike for BSP and SP, caste is not an issue to play politics over for him.

“If by chance Modi was OBC, then would RSS have let him become the PM?” she then asked.

Mayawati has repeatedly alleged that Modi calls himself “backward” for political gains despite being from an upper caste.

She further said that Modi’s dream of becoming the PM again would not be fulfilled and said the kind of language he is using against the opposition shows he is not sure of winning the election.

“PM’s accusation that ‘mahagathbandhan’ is casteist, is absurd. How can those who suffered from casteism be casteist? Entire country knows he isn’t an OBC by birth, he hasn’t suffered from the atrocities of casteism. So he shouldn’t say such lies about ‘mahagathbandhan’,” she added.

On Wednesday too, Mayawati had said that the PM was the most “adulterated” person who, despite being from “upper caste”, calls himself “backward” for political gains.

“The biggest mahamilavati is PM Modi himself as he has enlisted his upper caste in the backward list for political gains during the tenure of his own government. The person who is really backward is Akhilesh Yadav. He is not a fake and ‘on-paper’ backward like Narendra Modi,” she said addressing a rally in support of the Samajwadi Party chief in Azamgarh.

In response to allegations that he had fudged his caste details, the PM had recently said at a rally in Kannauj that he was from an extremely backward caste. “My caste is so small that there are only two-three houses of my caste in my village,” he had said.

Further asking the SP-BSP alliance not to drag him into caste politics, PM Modi said, “I have never spoken about my caste, but mahamilawati people are forcing me to speak about it. I am not backward but was born in extreme backwardness,” he said.