Rahul Gandhi’s revelation hasn’t so far elicited a reply from the Bharatiya Janata Party and whether the saffron party will be able to counter Gandhi's charge is in doubt because it is impossible that Rahul Gandhi would speak a lie on such an important matter, especially when it pertained to the Prime Minister of India. For sure, the Congress must have done its homework and “Modi the Teli” wouldn’t be bandied about lightly, without solid proof. Now, it is for the Bharatiya Janata Party to come clean on the Prime Minister’s caste.

For, if Modi is indeed of the "Teli" general caste category, then the BJP stands accused of floating a canard with which it has been garnering electoral advantages; in other words, reaping OBC votes across the length and breadth of the country using a lie involving Narendra Modi to the hilt. Why was this “lie” allowed to persist and why was it allowed to prey on the electorate, which in India, as everybody knows, votes notoriously and blatantly along casteist lines?

In fact, political parties choose candidates based on their castes and marginal outlier castes never ever get representation in legislatives. Now, before somebody demands a White Paper on Rahul Gandhi’s revelation, there should be clarity on Prime Minister Modi’s correct caste. Either the Gujarat government issues a clarification or the PMO makes the correct connection public.

Alternatively, Rahul Gandhi and the Congress should back his claim with proof. Whoever does it is immaterial so long as the matter is laid to rest once and for all. For, it is too serious an allegation to be brushed under the carpet. Voters are entitled to know the Prime Minister’s caste, especially when caste is such an important factor in India's elections; right from nominating candidates to cobbling up alliances.

Besides, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a hugely popular politician with an ‘X’ following of over 95 million, a big number of his electorate must also be OBCs who vote on caste lines and must have been voting BJP because they believed Modi was an OBC when he is actually of the “general caste” of Teli.

Now, after Rahul Gandhi’s bombshell revelation, and if it is true, Narendra Modi and the BJP have been reaping an undue advantage courtesy a lie perpetrated and persisted with for over two decades, election after election, including two general elections and a third one due in less than 100 days. It is imperative, therefore, that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s caste becomes a topic of investigation, a time bound inquiry.

If Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s caste was switched in 2000, as alleged by Rahul Gandhi, what would the act be labelled as? Is it a crime to falsify caste in government records, does it amount to forgery, is it cheating? The fact of the matter is, Modi’s caste, when he was Chief Minister, and later when he was named the prime ministerial face of the BJP in 2014, must have influenced voting in a big way.

Both Modi and the BJP must have been beneficiaries. Obviously, OBCs are the backbone of the caste system and being an OBC comes with a big advantage. Ever since 2000, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s caste was allegedly changed, there have been a plethora of elections and in Gujarat, the BJP has been winning landslide after landslide. “Modi” was touted as an OBC everytime. In fact, Rahul Gandhi was expelled from the Lok Sabha because he allegedly defamed the Modi surname.

Today, it’s Rahul Gandhi who is calling the Modi surname into account. In fact, Rahul Gandhi’s, and the Congress party’s, entire election campaign for general elections 2024, is solidly moored in caste and the need for a caste census for the equitable distribution of resources, with the OBC castes in the middle of the ruckus with the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Come to think of it, Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’s central message, which the Yatra is taking from state to state, is the importance of castes in the equitable development of India with the beneficiaries coming from the entire diversity of the population. Rahul Gandhi’s father Rajiv Gandhi and his grandmother Indira Gandhi, as also his great-grandfather Jawaharlal Nehru, had their own viewpoints on the caste census, but Rahul Gandhi has his own assessment and if the Yatra’s progress is any indication, it is finding acceptance among the general populace. For now, "Teli" is the catchword and the password for the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra's success. (IPA Service)