Prime Minister Narendra Modi emphasised his credentials as an “OBC” leader as he mocked Congress for alleging that people from socially backward categories were not occupying senior positions in his government.
“Main hairan hoon ki unko sabse bada OBC nazar nahin aata. Kahan aankhen band kar ke baith jate hain (I am surprised that are unable to see that the senior-most position is occupied by an OBC.How can they shut their eyes to this?)” Modi said as he emphasised that the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council, the powerful body which carried considerable clout during UPA, did not have any OBC on it. “This when members of this extra-constitutional body were handpicked,” he said.
Referring to his govt’s decision to posthumously confer Bharat Ratna on Karpoori Thakur, Modi said Congress had dislodged the legendary EBC leader from Bihar as CM in 1970 and, again, as leader of opposition in Bihar assembly in 1987.