Modi’s caste spin irks Congress, Mayawati

Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s daughter had made the remark after Modi unfavourably mentioned her late father Rajiv Gandhi in his speech at Amethi.  In a counter-attack, Gujarat chief minister said: ‘I belong to the socially lower strata, that’s why they dub my politics as low-level.’

‘Forget a tea seller, in a democracy everyone has the right to be the prime minister. First they called me a tea seller. As if it was a crime that I sold tea. They asked if a tea seller will run the nation. Just because we belong to the lower strata does it mean we can be abused like this? Those living in palaces must realise that it’s due to the hard work of lower caste people like us that they are living comfortably. We don’t want anything. We just want a right to live with dignity. What is the crime we have committed?’ he asked.

Reacting to this, union minister Kapil Sibal slammed Modi and said that Priyanka never made any casteist insinuation and that she was only referring to the BJP’s ‘low-level’ politics.‘He (Modi) knows that he is misinterpreting. He does it purposefully. That is Narendra Modi. He will give a spin to something that has nothing to do with facts,’ Sibal told reporters in Delhi. 

However, realising that he may have taken the caste spin too far, Modi also stressed the country has moved beyond caste and communal politics and today’s youth want development. 

Meanwhile, BSP supremo Mayawati allso attacked Modi for playing caste politics. ‘Priyanka Gandhi had accused Modi of stooping to ‘neechee rajiniti’ but on Tuesday in his speeches in the election meeting he distorted it and said he is being targeted by Congress because he belongs to neechee jati. I was expecting the Congress to put things in right perspective but the party seems to have surrendered knowing that it is losing elections. SP has also not reacted for reasons unknown. So, I took the responsibility to make people aware of how Modi is taking them for a ride by playing backward caste card and dirty politics (ghinauni rajniti),’ said Mayawati at a press conference. 

Mayawati also said there is no Modi wave in UP.