Mumbai: Purnesh Modi, the BJP legislator on whose grievance Congress chief Rahul Gandhi was convicted and sentenced in a defamation case, mentioned his surname was ‘Bhootwala’ earlier, however even then he was a part of Gujarat’s bigger Modi neighborhood by caste.
Modi had filed a prison defamation grievance in opposition to Rahul in a Surat courtroom for allegedly defaming the Modi neighborhood at a 2019 rally in Karnataka. On the ballot rally in Kolar, Rahul had mentioned that “all thieves have Modi because the frequent surname,” taking the names of Lalit Modi, Nirav Modi and PM Narendra Modi in the identical breath.
His clarification on change of surname comes within the wake of the defence lawyer’s argument within the courtroom that the complainant just isn’t a ‘Modi’ as his earlier surname was ‘Bhootwala,’ which he later modified to Modi.
Rahul was on Friday disqualified as MP following his conviction within the case.
“The Teli neighborhood has a inhabitants of 13 crore unfold throughout India and with totally different surnames. In Rajasthan, they’re generally known as the Ghanchis. In Gujarat, they’re the Modis,” the BJP MLA from Surat West, a former Gujarat minister additionally, instructed ThePrint.
“In our neighborhood, folks’s final names are principally primarily based on the work they do. There’s a Lapsiwala, Dalwala, Chhonkhwala, Kadhiwala and so forth. My ancestors had been named after the mohalla (neighbourhood) they lived in,” he mentioned, including that his ancestors lived at Bhoot Seri in Surat, and therefore, his household got here to be generally known as the ‘Bhootwalas.’
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‘Modified final title in 1988′
As per Purnesh Modi’s submission to the Surat courtroom listening to the case, a replica of which is with ThePrint, he modified his final title in 1988.
Modi additionally submitted his faculty leaving certificates to the courtroom, which said ‘Bhootwala’ as his final title and talked about the caste as ‘Modi Ghanchi.’
Modi is the title of a neighborhood whose origins are nomadic, and whose members ultimately acquired into the oil-making enterprise and are settled throughout Gujarat. The neighborhood acquired the Different Backward Courses (OBC) tag in 1994.
Purnesh Modi’s grievance not solely led to the Surat courtroom handing out a two-year sentence to Rahul, but in addition the Congress chief’s disqualification as an MP a yr earlier than the Lok Sabha election.
Nonetheless, Purnesh Modi maintains his grievance wasn’t political. He was an workplace bearer of Gujarat’s Modi samaj (neighborhood) and after Rahul’s remarks in Karnataka, members of the neighborhood got here collectively, mentioned and determined to lodge a grievance, the BJP MLA mentioned.
“The grievance was as a member of the neighborhood, although everyone seems to be giving it a political nature now,” Modi mentioned. “It isn’t about our victory, or defeat. It’s about this nation’s social material. It isn’t proper to narrate to the whole neighborhood.”
(Edited by Geethalakshmi Ramanathan)
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