 "Caste politics takes centre stage")
The Congress again raised doubts about Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) prime ministerial nominee Narendra Modi’s claim that he hailed from a backward caste.
Modi also raked up the caste issue during his speeches in Bihar on Friday. He accused the Congress of starting the politics of “untouchability and hatred” and its President, Sonia Gandhi, of taking recourse to “unch aur neech (high and low)” politics in an effort to salvage “lost political ground” in the current elections.
Political observers say the ‘caste turn’ in the last 48-hours was inevitable. Forty-one Lok Sabha seats will vote in the ninth and last phase of the polls on Monday, campaigning for which ends on Saturday evening. Of these, 18 seats are in Uttar Pradesh and six in Bihar. The rest 17 seats in West Bengal.
On Thursday, Congress spokesperson Shaktisinh Gohil had claimed Modi hailed from an upper caste, which was relatively wealthy. He said Modi had included his caste ‘Modh Ghanchi’ into the Gujarat OBC list after becoming the state’s chief minister in October 2001. Disputing the Congress’s claim, BJP leader Arun Jaitley said the community was added to the OBC category on July 25, 1994 by the Congress government headed by Chhabildas Mehta. BJP said Gohil was also a minister in that government. Jaitley said the Mandal Commission list by the Centre on April 4, 2000 included in the central list the 'Modh Ghanchi' as an OBC caste. This, said Jaitley, was before Modi became Gujarat CM.
No support to NDA, says Mayawati
In Lucknow, BSP chief Mayawati said her party will not support an NDA government at the Centre. On Thursday, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee had said that her party will not be part of an NDA government led by "rioters" while Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi reminded the crowd at his public rally about the good relations in the past between the Congress and Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress.
Mayawati, in a reference to Modi's interview to television news channel Times Now on Thursday, said Modi's reaching out to herself, Banerjee and Tamilnadu CM J. Jayalalithaa betrayed his anxiety that NDA will fall short of majority.
She said comments by Modi and other BJP leaders made during the course of election campaigning against regional leaders has led to "much bitterness". She said Modi conceding that he will approach regional leaders was confession that there was no wave in favour of BJP.
Mayawati accused the BJP of having conspired against her in 2003 when the two parties had a coalition government in Lucknow. She claimed the BJP wanted to finish the "BSP movement" but by quitting the government Mayawati saved her party. But, Mayawati said, the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre took its revenge by initiating disproportionate assets cases against her.
Mayawati echoed Banerjee and called Modi "communal". She said supporting his government won't be fair on her Muslim supporters. The BSP chief said Modi's comments were aimed at confusing and demoralizing Muslim voters as 18-seats go to polls on May 12.