New Delhi, May 8
Just before the final phase of polling on May 12, it turns out that BJP prime ministerial nominee Narendra Modi, who has been underlining his backward status far too often these days, is not a born backward.

Giving a dramatic twist to the ongoing “neech rajniti” debate with Modi, the Congress today produced documentary evidence to show that the Gujarat Chief Minister was a “fake OBC”; that he used his high office as the CM to declare his caste as backward and all that happened in 2002. By this calculation, Modi is only a 12-year-old OBC.

The revelation came on a day when Congress president Sonia Gandhi reiterated her daughter Priyanka’s barb for Modi saying in UP’s Kushinagar today: “Caste politics is being played by those who think lowly about a caste or a group.”

Her remarks came after Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi yesterday took a jibe at Modi saying people’s actions could be low, not their castes. The latest revelation by Gujarat Assembly’s Leader of Opposition Shakti Sinh Gohil is sure to lend ammunition to the Congress’ anti-Modi artillery although party leaders admitted it was too late to make a difference on the ground.

Voting for only 41 parliamentary constituencies out of 543 was left. And by now, Modi has already established himself as an OBC leader and played the card well. Gohil says Modi is a Modh Ghanchi, an upper caste. In Gujarati lexicon, Modh is a term used to describe prosperous classes in a given community. Just as there are Modh Ghanchis, there are Modh Brahmins and Modh Baniyas - the first among equals in their castes.

Congress leaders say that never in the history of Gujarat was there any demand from anyone - let alone Modh Ghanchis themselves - to include their caste among backwards. “It was only on January 1, 2002, a year after Modi became the Gujarat CM, that he issued a notification naming his own caste as backward. All I have to say to Modi is - being born a low caste is not a sin, but exploiting your official position to manufacture a fake low-caste label is certainly a sin,” Gohil says.

Ghanchis, as per Gujarati lexicon, were traditionally milk product sellers or wholesale traders in the state. When asked why he came up with such a critical revelation so late in the day, Gohil said he had to file an RTI application in Gujarat to get hold of the relevant notification.