The government of the day cannot keep challenging our intelligence.
Sadly, the ministers of the ruling regime blabber lie after lie, probably without any shame, just for effect?
And not to be surprised, there are people in the country who are happy to believe whatever is shared with them on WhatsApp groups, news and youtube channels, they certainly love the circus and the ringmaster.
In the last few days of Rahul Gandhi's disqualification from the parliament, all the BJP leaders are alleging that Rahul Gandhi has mocked the OBC community, not to be surprised since this showcases their lack of knowledge and disregard for history in general.
To understand the issue it is important to understand history.
In ancient times occupation was the individual's formal identity.
Especially prevalent in Gujarat and Maharastra, traces of it can be seen in the surnames today in the 21st century.
Coming to the now very famous surname "Modi", who was Modi's?
Modi's are largely from Rajasthan and Gujarat, a small percentage of them are spread across various parts of the country, the people who travelled for trade and settled in regions where they flourished.
The first kind of Modi were traders and as per the Hindu caste system were Vaishyas from upper cast Hindu societies also called Bania's in many regions.
The 2nd was Modhi Ghanchi/ Ghancha called Teli in many states, they were the nomadic tribe and came to Gujarat from North India.
Modi Ghancha were majorly Muslims and a small number were Hindus.
The major occupation of the traders/ Bania clan was running the Kirana stores and provision hence if you go back to old dictionaries in Hindi the store rooms across many Northern cities were called "ModiKhana" because the provision was bought from people who were Modi's.
The Modh Ghanchi/Teli were the lesser affluent class since their occupation was making Oil at the local level using "Kolhu", each village had a small number of Modhi Ghancha included in the business since everyone needed locally processed oil.
Before we move to another aspect of Modi, as per many historians, Modh cannot be put as a caste since people who followed Modeshwari devi were Modi so it becomes more of a sect than a caste.
A surname used across three religions, namely Hindus, Parsee's, and Muslims has gotten into troubled waters over the ruling party making noise that Rahul Gandhi has insulted OBCs.
From a Historical perspective, Modhi/Bania was a well-to-do affluent class well-respected across the regions.
Post-independence as per Article 340 of the Constitution of India, the First Backward Classes Commission was set on 29 January 1953 under the chairmanship of Kaka Kalelkar Teli/ Modhi Ghancha and was put under BC. Here are the specifications ( quoted from Wire)
Gujarat (then divided into Saurashtra, Kutch and partly Bombay) by the first Central Backward Classes (Kaka Kalelkar) Commission (1953-55), as
“Ganika, Ghanchi, Teli” with the traditional occupation of “oil pressing” in Bombay;
“Ghanchi, Ghancha” with the traditional occupation of “oil pressers and sellers” in Saurashtra; and
“Ghancha” with the traditional occupation of “oil pressers” in Kutch.
And only in 1999 “Teli, Modh Ghanchi” was inbcluded in the OBC list,
To many, its a surprise why this rich community was selected to be part of the OBC list but as per the observation of the panel the community of “Teli, Modh Ghanchi” was socially and educationally backwards, apart from that they were inadequately rep[resneted in the service.
Which, the counter-argument can be that they are a business community, and prefer working on the businesses handed over to them from one generation to another.
They have worked hard to grow their business and after a certain level of education, their core focus becomes the family business.
But to keep the argument to rest that the "Teli, Modh Ghanchi” is part of the OBC list, and some of the most famous names include Ghandiji, Ambani and PM, Modi.
Lalit Modi is not a Gujarati, he is a Marwari with the Modi name and is not part of the OBC list.
Nirav Modi comes from the Bania trading Modi community and instead of selling provisions, he was selling Diamonds.
A lot of politics is played in the name of hurting OBC but the fact is that the Modh caste was an affluent Vaishya caste so traditionally didn't make it to the oppressed backward classes in the Hindu caste system.
The speech given by Rahul Gandhi in Kolar was about pointing out Three Modi's who are chore.
Now the first two Modis certainly, Lalit Modi and Nirav Modi, are not backward or oppressed in any way. They did lead a fantastic fabulous life in India, jest setting with the best of the bests and Lalit Modi continues to do so while away from the country. In the case of Nirav Modi, he is currently in jail so not so dreamy life but he had his share of good days after leaving India till time ran out on him.
Most of the OBC's still have it hard, why drag them in-between for your own political will and cheap politics.
In the 21st century India, students from backward castes are still killing themselves in collages due to racial casteist slurs, instead of challenging this as part of social evil as a society we are getting knee-deep in political rhetoric, it has no connection to human well-being, just political antics.
The more we get carried in these political noises more we will find ourselves stuck forever, because what is told is what we will process.
Instead, it is we who need to find clarity among the noise created by politicians. It is our lives which finally get impacted and remember there is no escape for common citizens of the country.
It is time we move forward beyond the petty casteist politics of the ruling regime and get a better perspective on our National policies.
As Indians, we need to take a conscious call on what kind of India we want.
A peaceful, democratic India which has scope for growth for everyone. Or India which is divided by religious hate and only development for select people.
The Modi's - Lalit Modi, P.M Narendra Modi, Nirav Modi
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