Maharashtra BJP President Chandrashekhar Bawankule. File photo
| Photo Credit: PTI
Maharashtra’s BJP president Chandrashekhar Bawankule on Friday lambasted Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s remark that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had “falsely” claimed to belong to the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) category, and accused the Congress MP of insulting OBCs across the country.
Exhorting prominent OBC leaders within the Maharashtra Congress — like MPCC chief Nana Patole and Leader of Opposition Vijay Wadettiwar — to resign from the party over the “insult”, Mr. Bawankule said that the public would teach Mr. Gandhi a lesson in the upcoming Lok Sabha election.
The BJP leader was alluding to Mr. Gandhi’s remark made during the Odisha leg of the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra on Thursday, wherein the latter claimed that Mr. Modi was born in a family belonging to the general category.
“Modi ji has been misleading the people by saying that he is an OBC. He was born in a family of the ‘Ghanchi’ caste, which was included in the OBC list during the BJP government’s tenure in Gujarat in 2000. He changed his caste to OBC after becoming the CM of Gujarat. Therefore, Modi ji is not an OBC by birth,” the Congress MP had said.
In response, activists of the BJP’s OBC cell staged protests against Mr. Gandhi in Nagpur.
Speaking to reporters during the agitation, Mr. Bawankule said protests were being held against Mr. Gandhi across Maharashtra.
“Rahul Gandhi, who was born in an Italian family, has insulted Modi ji. He has been continuously insulting the PM and the entire OBC community. He is such a fool…When OBC reservation was implemented in Gujarat, Modi ji was not there (as the CM),” said the BJP leader, adding that the people would teach the “Italian Rahul Gandhi a lesson in the Lok Sabha election”.
Mr. Bawankule further demanded the resignations of Mr. Patole and Mr. Wadettiwar because while they claimed to be OBC leaders, their own party leader (Mr. Gandhi) insulted OBC comunities.
The BJP leader further alleged that the Congress had never done anything for the welfare of the OBCs, whereas Mr. Modi was working day and night for such communities.
