How the BJP is quietly playing a clever caste game in UP

That caste plays a vital role in elections is stating the obvious, but when the party with ‘a difference’ also starts playing the caste card, albeit with a difference, the outcome is anybody’s guess. Even though the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been gaining ground in the political discourse and public perception mainly because of Narendra Modi’s oratorial style, the party’s old guard has been quietly connecting the dots of the caste matrix in a traditional manner. The party has not only been contacting leaders of all castes it has been associated with, but has also extended its reach to Dalits, and castes considered extreme backward, most backward and backward. While other parties have been raising the issue of reservation for members of such castes or socio-political representation to them, the BJP has been trying to persuade them to come into its fold with the promise of greater importance. The BJP has traditionally been considered a party of Brahmins and Baniyas (traders) with a stronghold in northern states. But with the ascent of powerful OBC leaders like Kalyan Singh in the 90s, it quickly realized that it had to involve larger sections of the Hindus in order to emerge as a major political force. While other parties – especially the Samajwadi Party and the Congress – have preferred attacking the BJP over its so-called “communal” antecedents, the BJP itself has been quietly engaged in settling the caste equations. [caption id=“attachment_1413921” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] PTI[/caption] Having observed the growth of the BJP for over two decades, Professor Rahul Shukla of a Lucknow University college, says that says the party has continued with this strategy despite not being in power or having been weakened otherwise. The emergence of other OBC leaders such as Vinay Katiyar, Uma Bharti and others is an example of this. It also emerges that Amit Shah, the strongman from Gujarat, was picked up by Modi not only because of his managerial and persuasion skills, but also for the ease in which he communicates with OBCs. Shah was given charge of guiding party leaders in the state towards its ‘mission 2014’. Ever since his arrival in June 2013, he has been travelling across the state, contacting caste leaders in almost every district and organizing the party cadre at the grassroots to ensure effective polling when the time came. Essentially his task was to organize 200 such meetings across the state till March, where issues of social justice were to be discussed and the proposition was to be offered that the BJP alone was the true benefactor of the OBCs. “A growing perception among a wide section of OBCs is that the Samajwadi Party is concerned only about the welfare of the Yadavs, whereas others including Kurmis and Patels are feeling neglected,” says Dr Vinod Singh, a professor in a medical college who belongs to Kanpur. “The Kurmis, despite being influential, are especially hurt since they are not as aggressive as the Yadavs and are more into white-collar professions rather than justfarming, transport or livestock,” he said, adding that the community was quite satisfied with Shah’s overtures. Not only the OBCs, but even the most backward castes (MBCs) are also getting drawn to the BJP, especially Modi. His identity as a tea-seller has been a big draw, and the neglected communities among the OBCs, such as Kumhars (potters), dhobi (washermen), bunkars (weavers), nau (barbers), badhai (carpenters), sunar (goldsmith) and teli (oil grinders) etc have been convinced by Shah in his own typical manner that it will be Modi, and not Mulayam Singh Yadav, Mayawati or even Rahul Gandhi who can ever understand the ‘pain’ of being marginalized. “Yes, Amit Shah ji has been active in the state for months now, and our party has also believed in joining the people rather than dividing them,” says Vijay Pathak, the state spokesman of the BJP in Lucknow. He also adds that the meetings held all over the state in the last seven-eight months had prepared a ‘solid ground’ of support for the BJP from various communities. Now, with Narendra Modi having emerged as the top symbol of OBC empowerment within the BJP, its managers are trying to win the attention of other most and extreme backward castes and Dalits. It is learnt that the BJP national president Rajnath Singh is also putting a lot of strategic thinking in expanding the reach of the BJP to those corners of the Hindu society that other parties do not consider to be a significant vote bank. Dalit leader Udit Raj, also the chairman of the All India Confederation of SC/ST Organisations, siding with the BJP is widely believed to be the result of consistent effort by Rajnath Singh over many weeks. Udit Raj’s Indian Justice Party is said to have an influence over that section of Dalits which is apathetic to Mayawati and more into business and academics. Even the tie up between Ram Vilas Paswan and the BJP is said to be a result of this strategy. It is learnt that Singh is now actively monitoring an initiative to get the Apna Dal over to the BJP as well. This party is an outfit of Kurmis and Patels, and its mentor was Sone Lal Patel, a strong Kurmi leader. He had hobnobbed with the SP and also been a part of the Qaumi Ekta Morcha in the 2012 Assembly election of which the Peace Party and Qaumi Ekta Dal were also members. Apna Dal is now led by Patel’s daughter Anupriya Patel who is an MLA in UP/ But it is not as if the upper castes have been forgotten in this pan-Hindu strategy. Modi’s speeches at his rallies – named Vijay Shankhnaad Rallies – begin with the slogan Bharat Mata ki jai and the stage is decorated with symbols like the shankh and saffron flags. Brahmin stalwarts like Murli Manohar Joshi, Kalraj Mishra, Kesrinath Tripathi have managed to retain the allegiance of a section of Brahmins with the BJP whereas another section has moved away to the Bahujan Samaj Party because of the efforts of BSP leader Satish Chandra Mishra. As for Kshatriyas, the state BJP was led by SP Shahi before the present incumbent Laxmikant Vajpayee took over. Yogi Adityanath of Gorakhpur is also a strong Kshatriya leader who wields considerable influence in the community in eastern UP. It is also widely believed that Raghuraj Pratap Singh ‘Raja Bhaiya’ a senior cabinet minister in the Akhilesh Yadav ministry and a Thakur strongman of Pratapgarh, was actively in touch with the BJP when he felt that Mulayam was neglecting him in the aftermath of the clean chit in the probe into the killing of a police officer in Pratapgarh in March 2013. However, Singh was re-inducted into the ministry soon thereafter. Thus, with almost all levels of Hindu castes having been contacted and included into its electoral strategy, the party expects a major boost in its Mission 2014 with Narendra Modi’s rally in Lucknow on 2 March.