Narendra Modi plays secular, caste cards

Varanasi: As the battle for eastern Uttar Pradesh intensified, BJP’s PM candidate Narendra Modi, who was earlier targeted for speaking from the stage with a Ram Janmabhoomi backdrop, on Tuesday played the secular and caste cards.

In a sharp retort to Priyanka Gandhi’s barb of indulging in “low-level” politics, Mr Modi invoked his ‘backward class’ status to mount attack on the Congress’ star campaigner.

“As I belong to a socially backward caste, they consider my politics to be of a low level (neech rajneeti),” Mr Modi said in a series of tweets.

“Some people cannot see that it is due to renunciation, sacrifice and hard work of people of backward class that the country has reached to the present position,” he further tweeted targeting Priyanka.

Speaking at Dumariyagunj in eastern UP on Tuesday, Mr Modi said, “The time has come for Hindus and Muslims to stand together and work for development.”

He attacked the Congress for “neglecting low castes”, and reminded his audience, “Chai hi to bechi hai, desh to nahi becha (I have sold tea, not the country). I may belong to a low caste, but I do not play low-level politics.”

In a counter to the barbs that he practices ‘politics of anger,’ Mr Modi on Monday had accused Priyanka’s father and former PM Rajiv Gandhi, her mother Sonia and brother Rahul for practicing the same.

Within hours, Priyanka hit out at Mr Modi saying he had insulted his martyred father and accused the Gujarat CM of practicing ‘neech rajneeti’.

The BJP is getting increasingly aware that it might not be able to break into eastern UP’s caste-dominated politics by adhering only to the development plank.

A detailed saffron analysis revealed the party was beginning to lag behind in the state’s caste-driven politics.