Story By The Daily Bharat Express (Web-Desk):- With the Opposition INDIA bloc, especially the Congress, upping its pressure on the Narendra Modi government to hold a countrywide caste census, the BJP central leadership on Thursday discussed the “advantages and disadvantages” of the party’s current position of not going for a caste count, sources said.
Keen on retaining its Other Backward Classes (OBC) support base in the coming Lok Sabha elections, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP national president J P Nadda held a high-level meeting of the party’s senior leaders from various states in New Delhi and discussed the party’s strategy on the issue.
BJP chief ministers, deputy chief ministers, state unit presidents and the legislature party leaders from various states attended the meeting held at the party headquarters. BJP general secretary (organization) B L Santhosh, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis were among those present at the meeting, where it was decided that a committee would be formed to frame OBC outreach programmes, sources said.
The BJP seems to be in a dilemma over the INDIA bloc’s caste census push. The party is reluctant to hold one as it feels that such an exercise can jeopardise its strategy to consolidate among OBC communities. The party, instead, is banking on projecting the schemes and initiatives of the Narendra Modi government for the backward communities.
Why UP is Important…?
The significance of the meeting can be gauged from the fact that the UP unit of the party decided to postpone its Scheduled Caste sammelan in Lucknow at the last moment as Adityanath was summoned to Delhi.
Besides Adityanath, the meeting was attended by a host of BJP leaders from UP, including both the Deputy Chief Ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak, UP BJP president Bhupendra Chaudhary as well as MPs Sangam Lal Gupta and Union Minister Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti.
With 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh — the party won 62 of those in 2019 — the party is keen to retain its stronghold in the state where the votes of OBCs play a significant role in the electoral outcome.
However, on the issue of caste census, the BJP is finding itself alienated even by its long-term allies like Apna Dal, which has a significant base among Patels in east UP and NISHAD Party, which has a base among the fishermen community.
“Guldasta to pura karenge na (We will complete the bouquet),” said a BJP leader when asked about the party’s renewed focus on wooing OBCs in the backdrop of Opposition parties — the Congress and the Samajwadi Party (SP) – making a pitch for caste census.
“We aim to bring every segment of the society along. There might be some issues which need to be addressed but we will resolve all to bring all, including the OBCs, with us in a large chunk in this election,” the BJP leader added.
UP Cabinet expansion
Sources said that at Thursday’s meeting, the central leadership gave a green signal to expand the UP Cabinet to induct more OBC leaders besides others. “The Cabinet expansion will be done keeping the caste equations for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in mind, and to send the message to the respective communities,” said another BJP leader from UP.
At present, the Adityanath Cabinet has over 20 OBC ministers representing different sub-castes — Nishads, Patels, Rajbhars, Mauryas, Jats, Lodhs and Yadavs. The prominent OBC faces in the Cabinet are Keshav Prasad Maurya; Kurmi leaders Swatantra Dev Singh and Rakesh Sachan; Anil Rajbhar; Sanjay Nishad who is the chief of the NISHAD Party, Ashish Patel from Apna Dal (Sonelal); and Jat leader Laxmi Narayan Chaudhary. Among Ministers of State with Independent charge, the OBC faces are Sandeep Singh, the grandson of former CM and Lodh leader Kalyan Singh; Girish Chandra Yadav, as well as Dharamveer Prajapati, and Ravindra Jaiswal.
While each of these leaders represents a different OBC sub-caste from different parts of the state, a majority of the leadership is from east UP where the Apna Dal (S) and the NISHAD Party have a strong presence. “Thus, the focus will be on developing OBC leadership from the central parts of the state as well,” said a BJP leader.
While the state BJP leaders are confident that their “focused approach” towards the OBCs will yield positive results, the Opposition is set to make things difficult for the ruling party. Both the SP and the Congress have planned campaigns centred around caste census demand with a special focus on OBCs that account for nearly 50% of the state’s population.
BJP sources said the party’s loss in Ghosi Assembly bypolls two months ago rang the alarm bell of OBC voters not voting for the party. In a seat dominated by the OBCs, BJP candidate Dara Singh Chauhan, who represents the Noni Chauhan community among the OBCs, was defeated by SP’s Sudhakar Singh, a non-OBC.
