Rajasthan
Ashok Gehlot: I am an OBC, Gandhis made me CM of Rajasthan thrice | Jaipur News
JAIPUR: Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Sunday rubbished BJP’s allegations that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi insulted OBCs, pointing out that his party made him (Gehlot) the CM of Rajasthan thrice and has been taking several measures for OBCs.
Gehlot, who comes from the OBC Mali community in Rajasthan, was in Delhi to participate in the nationwide ‘Sankalp Satyagraha’ organised by Congress against Rahul Gandhi being disqualified from parliamentary politics following a two-year sentence handed to him by a local court in Surat in a criminal defamation case.
After Gandhi’s disqualification, BJP leaders, including the party’s national president JP Nadda, have accused him of having insulted OBCs by his remark in Surat in 2019 (‘Why do all thieves have the Modi surname?’) as the Modi caste is listed under the OBCs.
In his address to a gathering, Gehlot recalled that PM Modi had made an experiment during the 2017 Gujarat elections by saying that Gandhi had abused his caste to take advantage in the polls.
“They (BJP) are following the same model by accusing Rahul Gandhi of insulting OBCs before the elections (Lok Sabha polls in 2024). BJP was losing the polls in Gujarat then, and it was Modiji who played the caste card against our leader. The OBC-insult campaign is an attempt to mislead OBCs,” said Gehlot.
Gehlot asked BJP if the party protests Congress’s stand against fugitives like Nirav Modi and Lalit Modi and seeking to divert the issue by accusing Rahul Gandhi of insulting OBCs.
“I am an OBC and the only MLA from my Mali community. Sonia Gandhiji made me CM for the third time,” said Gehlot. He also counted several steps Congress governments have taken for OBCs, SCs and STs. He termed Rahul Gandhi as the “emerging voice of the nation” and asserting that Congress would never bow down before the anti-democratic forces.
Gehlot, who comes from the OBC Mali community in Rajasthan, was in Delhi to participate in the nationwide ‘Sankalp Satyagraha’ organised by Congress against Rahul Gandhi being disqualified from parliamentary politics following a two-year sentence handed to him by a local court in Surat in a criminal defamation case.
After Gandhi’s disqualification, BJP leaders, including the party’s national president JP Nadda, have accused him of having insulted OBCs by his remark in Surat in 2019 (‘Why do all thieves have the Modi surname?’) as the Modi caste is listed under the OBCs.
In his address to a gathering, Gehlot recalled that PM Modi had made an experiment during the 2017 Gujarat elections by saying that Gandhi had abused his caste to take advantage in the polls.
“They (BJP) are following the same model by accusing Rahul Gandhi of insulting OBCs before the elections (Lok Sabha polls in 2024). BJP was losing the polls in Gujarat then, and it was Modiji who played the caste card against our leader. The OBC-insult campaign is an attempt to mislead OBCs,” said Gehlot.
Gehlot asked BJP if the party protests Congress’s stand against fugitives like Nirav Modi and Lalit Modi and seeking to divert the issue by accusing Rahul Gandhi of insulting OBCs.
“I am an OBC and the only MLA from my Mali community. Sonia Gandhiji made me CM for the third time,” said Gehlot. He also counted several steps Congress governments have taken for OBCs, SCs and STs. He termed Rahul Gandhi as the “emerging voice of the nation” and asserting that Congress would never bow down before the anti-democratic forces.
