Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 13 accused the Congress of nurturing hatred towards the other backward classes (OBCs) and failing to provide reservation to OBCs despite long spells in power.
Addressing back-to-back poll rallies in Mungeli and Mahasamund districts of election-bound Chhattisgarh, Mr. Modi said that by abusing him, Congress leaders had been abusing the entire OBC community. Without naming anyone, the Prime Minister took a jibe at former Congress president Rahul Gandhi and said some “mahagyani leaders are nowadays publicising my caste in their gathering; they go on saying that Modi is an OBC”.
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“In the previous elections held in the country, these people were calling the entire OBC community as thieves in the name of Modi. What the Congress did for five years to the Sahu community of the State is not hidden from anyone,” said Mr. Modi.
The Sahu community is one of the key OBC communities in the State where the ruling Congress pegs the OBC population at just over 43% and where it has promised a caste survey if it returns to power. In his recent speeches in Chhattisgarh, Mr. Gandhi has questioned Mr. Modi’s take that poor was one caste and questioned why Mr. Modi was then asserting his OBC identity.
Questions track record
At the Mahasamund rally, Mr. Modi questioned the Congress’s track record of delivering OBC welfare, adding that the people had to recognise the “mentality” of the Congress.
“This is the same Congress which ran the government from panchayat to Parliament. People gave them the opportunity to run the government, but did not give reservation to the OBC community. This is the same Congress which did not give constitutional status to the OBC Commission for decades. This is the same Congress which did not implement OBC reservation in medical colleges. Modi had given you guarantee of fulfilling all these tasks and completed them,” the Prime Minister said.
Asserting that the countdown for the ruling Congress had begun in the State, Mr. Modi targeted Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel and claimed that the latter would lose his own seat of Patan. He accused Mr. Baghel of corruption and going back on the “2.5-years-power-sharing agreement” [a purported arrangement, denied publicly by the Congress, under which Mr. Baghel was to relinquish the CM’s chair in favour of his now deputy T.S. Singh Deo after 2.5 years in power].
“It is not just old-timers in the Congress are miffed with it [the power-sharing formula falling through]. If such a colossal deceit, breaking of promise, can take place within the party, then it is certain that every promise made to the people wouldn’t be kept either. Every promise is a lie,” he said.
‘Super CM’
“Under the rule of this Chief Minister, the crimes that the Super CM and his [CM’s] favourite officials have committed, people are angry with that as well. And [because of] the business his [Mr. Baghel’s] son is running by becoming the Super CM, the situation has reached to a stage that even becoming an MLA has become difficult for this Chief Minister. There is anger in every household,” Mr. Modi said.
Chhattisgarh votes for the second phase on November 17. At Mahasamund, Mr. Modi said it was his final rally during this election campaign and exuded confidence that the BJP would win. He also asserted that people had voted in massive numbers for the BJP in the first phase on November 7.
