In an attempt to reverse the fortunes of the Congress party, its online supporters and trolls have started claiming that Modi granted reservations to Muslim castes during his tenure as Gujarat CM.
The claims have spawned on social media after PM Modi asserted that Congress tried to grant reservation to Muslims at the expense of SC/ST castes. Addressing the electorate in Rajasthan’s Tonk-Sawai Madhopur Lok Sabha constituency, slated to cast their votes on April 26, Prime Minister Narendra Modi remarked on Tuesday that in 2004, the Congress attempted to allocate reservations to Muslims in Andhra Pradesh at the expense of diminishing SC/ST reservations, displaying what he described as a disregard for the Constitution.
“The reality is that during the Congress regime, they sought to carve out a separate reservation for their favoured voting bloc by encroaching upon the reservations meant for Dalits and backward classes. This action, he emphasised, stands in stark contradiction to the principles outlined in the Constitution,” PM Modi said.
No sooner did Modi accuse Congress of minority appeasement by granting reservations to Muslims by encroaching upon quota meant for SC/ST castes than a raft of Congress trolls online began sharing an incomplete video to insinuate that Modi accorded reservation to Muslim castes during his tenure as the Gujarat CM.
Today, Modi was questioning INC, asking for assurances that they wouldn't Reservation to muslims from OBC/SC/ST Quota
— Amock (@y0geshtweets) April 23, 2024
Meanwhile, #NarendraModi himself admitted a few days ago that he had provided OBC reservation to Muslims in Gujarat.
Spread it ⚡️#DarpokSaheb #HateSpeech pic.twitter.com/OCvZBsnE4X
There are 70 castes in the Muslim community who belong to OBC. When I was CM of Gujarat, I used to give them all benefits of OBC.
— Shantanu (@shaandelhite) April 23, 2024
— Narendra Modi
Hey @AmanChopra_ , @gauravcsawant, look what your ‘propaganda ke papa’ is saying. pic.twitter.com/r1UXKitVah
Congress trolls share an incomplete video of Modi to make misleading claims: Modi doesn’t claim to extend reservations to Muslim castes in the state list
Firstly, in the video, Modi isn’t making such assertions; rather, he mentions that during his tenure as the Chief Minister of Gujarat, numerous Muslim castes benefited from reservations under the OBC quota. However, he notes that the media often overlooks such instances. Nowhere does Modi claim that his administration included any Muslim caste in the state’s OBC list.
It is indeed a fact that numerous “Muslim castes” have been receiving reservations under OBC quotas across various states for nearly four decades. Muslim castes were also granted reservations in the central OBC quota, with the UPA government issuing notifications to this effect. This practice predates Modi’s tenure as Chief Minister of Gujarat.
Curiously, upon examining the castes enumerated in Gujarat’s state OBC list, it becomes apparent that all the Muslim castes that were included in the list were before Narendra Modi assumed office as Chief Minister of Gujarat. Subsequently, during Modi’s tenure as CM, 14 castes and some sects were appended to the list, none of which pertained to Muslims.
Modi took the oath of Gujarat CM on 7 October 2001 and was the chief minister of the state till 2014. As per the List of Socially and Educationally Backward Classes declared by Gujarat State, there were 7 instances when the state government intervened to add castes to the existing list.
These include Kamli, Tamboli, Garai, Gurav, Kalal (Hindu), Sanghar (Hindu), Nagarchi, Kayasth, Gandharv (Hindu), Darji, Bhandari, Kathi Rajgir and Ahir Gor, Kuruhin Shetty, and Hajari (Rajput).
Kalal Muslims were already included in caste reservations; Kalal Hindus were included in reservations under Modi as Gujarat’s CM
Indeed, a noteworthy instance arises with the Kalal caste of Gujarat. While both Hindus and Muslims are recognised as belonging to this caste, only Muslim Kalals were granted reservation and incorporated into the OBC list by the Gujarat government. It wasn’t until 2005, under the Modi administration, that Hindu Kalals were eventually included in the list.
Interestingly, there are 31 Muslim castes granted reservations by the Gujarat government. Out of 31, 29 Muslim castes were granted reservations under the Congress-led governments in the state. There were two instances when Muslim castes were included in the ambit of reservations under BJP-led governments, one in December 1995 and the other one in September 1996, but Modi was not at the helm of the government then.
