Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said that among all the castes, the poor, the youth, women, and farmers were the biggest for him, and that only the uplift of these “castes” would lead to the progress of the country. The remarks gained traction as they were made amid the Opposition Congress’ calls for a nationwide caste census, and the raising of the slogan, “to each according to their number”.
The remarks were made by Mr. Modi while interacting with the beneficiaries of government schemes under the Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra via video conference. The yatra is a part of the government’s initiative for “saturation coverage” of its welfare programmes.
Mr. Modi said that people had confidence in his government looking at its record of the last decade.
