Rahul Gandhi insulted OBCs: BJP plans fresh attack
The ruling BJP intensified its attack against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, claiming that his comment during a 2019 election speech asking “why all thieves have Modi in their names”, was actually disparaging towards other backward classes.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) intensified its attack against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, claiming that his comment during a 2019 election speech asking “why all thieves have Modi in their names”, was actually disparaging towards other backward classes.
Gandhi who was convicted by a Surat court in a defamation suit filed by a local BJP leader also named Modi, was also disqualified as a lawmaker on Friday. The BJP now plans to launch a national campaign from April 6 to 14 to draw attention to the disrespect shown to the communities.
On Friday, BJP president JP Nadda led the attack against Gandhi for making derogatory references about the OBC community by referring to them as “thieves”. In a series of tweets, Nadda said Gandhi has lowered the quality of political discourse and made other slanderous comments in the past. He went on slam Gandhi for not apologising for his comment and said it shows “how deep rooted his hatred for OBCs is.”
“By comparing OBC communities to thieves, Mr. @RahulGandhi has shown a pathetic and casteist mindset. However, his latest tirade is not surprising. For the last many years, he has always reduced levels of political discourse...” he said.
In 2019, Prime Minister Modi responded to Gandhi similarly. He pointed out that the Congress had been defaming him for years over his backward class status but that they were now “blaming the entire community (of Modis)”. Modi belongs to an other backward class (OBC), one of many such on whom the BJP relies . Since it came to power at the centre in 2014, the party has focused on social engineering by giving backward communities more space at the high table. BJP leaders on Friday said the BJP walks the talk on empowerment of the marginalised castes and that Modi himself is an example of this.
With elections coming up in a Karnataka, and then, later this year, in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Telangana , the BJP does not want to let go of the opportunity to pin the opposition down for disrespecting OBCs who also form a significant chunk of the voter base in these states.
The BJP president also referred to the Congress party’s campaign against Prime Minister Narendra Modi for which Gandhi had to apologise. “Mr. @RahulGandhi’s acerbic Chowkidar Chor Hai remarks were also not appreciated by the Supreme Court and for that HE APOLOGIZED,” Nadda said.
Union minister, Bhupendra Yadav also criticised Gandhi for not apologising for his remarks and dubbed it “arrogance.” “Are Congress party and Rahul Gandhi higher than the law of the country? Is it a national leader’s job to abuse and insult a surname of the OBC society?”
Asserting that the party and Gandhi are “personally guilty of hurling abuse at the entire OBC community in the country,” he said everybody should respect the court’s verdict.
“We believe that if you insult a particular community in such a manner, it is not Bharat Jodo (unite India) but Bharat Todo (divide India),” Yadav said, referring to Gandhi’s walkathon from Kanyakumari to Kashmir to unite the nation.
The BJP plans to stage protests, organise group meetings and chaupals in villages starting April 6, the foundation day of the BJP to draw highlight the Congress’s “contempt” for the OBC communities.
K Laxman, the president of the BJP’s OBC Morcha said, “The Congress party cannot stomach the fact that the PM who comes from an OBC family won the election twice. They cannot digest that the PM has been able to win the hearts of the people of this country and therefore have resorted to slander, insults and disparaging comments. We will go door-to-door to highlight this insult of the OBC communities and underline what the government has done for them in the last nine years.”
