TPCC Spokesperson Defends Revanth Reddy’s Remarks on Modi’s Caste
Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) spokesperson Chanagani Dayakar has criticized the BJP for attacking Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy over his comments on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s caste. He stated that Modi’s caste was officially added to the Other Backward Classes (OBC) list by the central government in 2001.
In a statement on Sunday, Dayakar explained that the Mandal Commission, which identified 3,460 castes as Backward Class communities in 1981, did not originally include Modi’s caste. However, the caste was later added to the OBC list during the tenure of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. He also mentioned that the process began in Gujarat in 1994 under then-Chief Minister Chimbanbhai Patel and was finalized at the national level in 2001.
Dayakar accused the BJP of misleading the public about Modi’s caste background. He claimed that Modi’s caste has traditionally been involved in business and has no real connection to the struggles faced by OBC communities. He further alleged that the BJP created the image of Modi as a “chaiwala” (tea seller) to gain political advantage. “People believed their narrative and brought them to power, but they have only focused on selling the country’s assets,” he remarked.
The Congress leader also argued that people with the Modi surname are generally businesspeople, not tea vendors. He defended Revanth Reddy’s remarks, saying, “What is wrong with discussing Modi’s caste? It is a valid conversation. BJP is unnecessarily making it a political issue.”
