Caste conundrum: The 'Modi' surname and its OBC linkages

Delinking Rahul Gandhi's remarks from any casteist connotations, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor remarked, 'Lalit Modi & Nirav Modi aren't OBCs.. they are rich fat cats'

Following Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's conviction by a Surat court in a defamation case and subsequent disqualification from the Lok Sabha, the question of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's caste has arisen again.

The Surat Chief Judicial Magistrate sentenced Gandhi to two years imprisonment following a 2019 complaint by Surat BJP MLA and former Gujarat minister Purnesh Modi, who claimed that Gandhi had insulted "13 crore people named Modi", following the latter's remark, “How come all the thieves have Modi as the common surname?”

Gandhi made the remarks at an election rally in Karnataka's Kolar in seeking to link diamond businessman Nirav Modi and embattled cricket administrator Lalit Modi, both fugitives, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

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The BJP, however, was quick to frame Gandhi's remark as an attack on the Other Backward Classes (OBCs), by claiming that Gandhi had insulted the prime minister on the basis of his caste.

BJP President JP Nadda termed Gandhi's remarks "casteist" and "pathetic", and the BJP now plans to launch a week-long national campaign starting April 6 to highlight the "insult" to these communities. Union Minister Smriti Irani claimed that "in attempting to insult PM Modi, Rahul Gandhi has also insulted the entire OBC community" and her colleague Bhupendra Yadav asked, "Is it a national leader’s job to abuse and insult a surname of the OBC society?”. Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself sought to make the linkages in 2019, claiming that the Congress could not bear the fact that an OBC had become the prime minister of the country and therefore was now resorting to insulting "the entire community (of Modis)”.

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However, according to the Central List of OBCs compiled by the National Commission for Backward Classes under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, there is no caste or community that goes by the name "Modi" in any of the states or Union Territories: entry number 23 lists "Ghanchi (Muslim), Teli, Modh Ghanchi, Teli-Sahu, Teli-Rathod, Teli-Rathore" as OBC communities in Gujarat, but there is no distinct 'Modi' community listed.

In fact, there is no homogenous or identifiable "Modi community", irrespective of caste markers. The surname 'Modi' is used by a disparate set of communities, including Hindus, Muslims and Parsis spread across Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.

While Surat MLA Purnesh Modi claimed in his defamation lawsuit that Modis "belong to the Modhvanik community", the Modh community consists of Vaniks (Banias), Brahmins, Ghanchis and other sub-communities, who find their origin in Gujarat's Modhera. Interestingly, the Modh community goes by many surnames - including Gandhi. Mahatma Gandhi, the father of the nation, belonged to the Modh-Bania caste. The Ambani family, too, is understood to belong to the same caste. Prime Minister Narendra Modi belongs to Modh-Ghanchi caste.

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Since Rahul Gandhi's conviction and disqualification, Congress leaders have questioned the logic of a homogenous "Modi community" and asked how it is fathomable that criticisms of Nirav and Lalit Modi amount to an insult of the OBCs. “Is Nirav Modi OBC? Is Mehul Chouksey OBC? Lalit Modi is OBC?” Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge recently asked, responding to the BJP's allegations. Congress leader and Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor too remarked, "Lalit Modi & Nirav Modi arent OBCs.. they are rich fat cats".

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In the mean time, Rahul Gandhi has been issued a notice by the Lok Sabha Secreteriat to evict his bungalow at 12 Tughlaq Lane, New Delhi.