‘He's a duplicate': Nitish's party chief claims PM Modi manipulated OBC status

Addressing a meeting at party office in Patna, JD(U) chief Lalan Singh claimed that Modi added his caste to the OBC list when he was the Gujarat chief minister.

Updated on: Oct 15, 2022, 11:24:22 IST

By HT News Desk | Reported by Vijay Swaroop

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi roamed around the country in 2014 claiming to be from Extremely Backward Class even as Gujarat has no EBC category, JD(U) chief Lalan Singh said on Friday. Addressing a meeting at party office in Patna, Singh claimed that Modi added his caste to the OBC list when he was the Gujarat chief minister.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar with JDU national president Lalan Singh. (HT Photo)

“The character of the BJP is very problematic. In 2014, PM Modi roamed the country saying he was from the Extremely Backward Class (EBC). Is there EBC in Gujarat? There's no EBC in Gujarat, only OBC," the JD(U) leader said.

"He didn't even belong to OBC. When he became Gujarat CM he added his caste to OBC. He's a duplicate, not an original,” he added.

BJP OBC Morcha and Bihar BJP spokesperson Nikhil Anand said that Lalan Singh has no moral- political character.

"These days JD (U) President Lalan Singh and Bihar Chief Minister Mr. Nitish Kumar is continuously using cheap language against the Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji and Home Minister Amit Shah ji. It is shameful and unfortunate. The restlessness, delusion and daydreaming of becoming the Prime Minister have destabilised the mental condition of Nitishji while Lalan Singh ji has never had any political character,” he said.

Similar charges were levelled by the Congress party in the run-up to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections but BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu had then rejected the allegations asking the grand old party to debate issues of political importance. In 2019, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati also accused PM Modi of getting his caste included in the list of OBC for political advantage.

"When Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat, he got his upper caste included in the list of backward caste to gain political advantage. Like Mulayam Singh Yadav and his son Akhilesh, PM was not born in a backward caste. He is anti-Dalit and this has been proved after Rohit Vemula incident," the former Uttar Pradesh CM said at a press conference.

(With inputs from Bureau)

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