Former Prime Minister and JD(s) leader Deve Gowda thanked PM Narendra Modi for "exposing the despicable culture" of the elites of Lutyen’s Delhi.
Speaking to CNN New 18 Gowda said, "I can feel the PM's pain. I am also a victim of the same class and their prejudices. I am a simple man with a simple lifestyle. I don't belong to club class. I can't host lavish parties and entertain these people. I actually don't care."
Deve Gowda, who hails from the Vokkaliga community became the first OBC Prime Minister in 1996.
In an exclusive interview to the news channel on September 2, Modi said that Lutyen’s elite had looked down upon most of the Prime Ministers irrespective of their class and background.
“As Modi has said – Sardar Patel, Morarji Desai, Charan Singh, me - are all from a humble village background. Our parents were farmers. The Delhi gang never digested this. Dr BR Ambedkar was from a very poor, oppressed background. The Delhi power circles humiliated him also. The same happened to former PM and my friend Chandrasekhar. They made fun of him," Gowda said.
"I have seen Modi's comments. He has spoken the bitter truth. I wholly agree with what he has said. During my Prime Ministership the elite and powerful eco-system of Lutyen's Delhi was hostile to me just because I am from a humble farming background. I thank the PM for exposing this despicable culture," he added.
Gowda said that he realised long ago that it was futile to please the elite class of Delhi.
Modi had named various former Prime Ministers, who hailed from a rural background, who were victims of the elitist criticism. In this context Modi took Gowda’s example too. He went on to say that he lost nothing after having dissociated himself from Lutyen’s Delhi.
“…Look at what happened to Morarji Desai. This same group never talked about his abilities, achievements. It always talked about what he drank. What happened with Deve Gowda? A farmer's son became the PM, yet they said he only sleeps…”
Gowda earned the title of “sleeping Prime Minister” having been caught napping at numerous places including in Parliament.