BJP looks to rein in cow vigilantes ahead of polls

It’s trouble time for saffronites who have been trying to play the backward card in the high-stakes elections that lie ahead in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab. With the BJP’s move to woo backwards taking a major hit across the nation, the Sangh Parivar and its affiliates are looking at options on how to contain the “lumpen elements” masquerading as cow vigilantes. The BJP, that has been demanding a “Congress-mukt Bharat”, was hit back by the Congress on Wednesday with the slogan that the BJP wants a “dalit-mukt Bharat”.

Fishing in troubled waters and taking advantage of the situation, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday rushed to Una and met members of the dalit family allegedly assaulted by “gau rakshaks” for skinning the carcass of a cow. Delhi CM and AAP president Arvind Kejriwal is expected to visit Gujarat on Friday.

Sensing the danger of being thrashed in the coming electoral battle in UP and losing its grip over Gujarat, the RSS and VHP on Wednesday joined forces to “condemn” the attacks on dalits by cow protection groups. The situation for the BJP worsened after its UP unit vice-president, Dayashankar Singh, called BSP supremo Mayawati a “prostitute”. Though the party sacked him from his posts and later expelled him, political strategists feel Mr Dayashankar’s remark has put Ms Mayawati firmly “in the driver’s seat” in the state. “So far we believed the BJP was ahead of the SP and we could edge past the BSP. This remark has delivered a body blow and consolidated Mayawati’s position for the forthcoming polls,” a senior BJP leader said.

The BJP, which claimed to have the support of a large chunk of upper castes across the country, has been trying to reach out to dalits, who constitute nearly 17 per cent of the country’s population. Party strategists claimed since dalits were under-represented at the national level, the BJP could provide them leadership. It was pointed out that despite Mayawati’s attempts to reach out to dalits, she had never been able to make her presence felt outside UP and this was the space that the BJP was looking for at the national level.

On Wednesday the RSS in Gujarat issued a statement saying it “strongly condemns all forms of discrimination, injustice and atrocities in the name of caste”, while VHP leader Pravin Togadia tweeted: “Just bcoz the name is ‘Goraksha Dal’ doesn’t mean that they are associated with VHP. Those who implicate VHP in this matter should refrain.” It may be recalled that recently the VHP had thrown its support behind the Gau Raksha Dal, that was accused of force-feeding cow dung to beef transporters in Haryana.

The dalit backlash, that has virtually shaken the saffron leadership, is expected to have an adverse impact in Punjab, where the BJP-Akali Dal alliance was already hit by anti-incumbency. Punjab’s dalit population is 31 per cent, compared to 20.5 per cent in Uttar Pradesh.

After Narendra Modi left Gujarat and became Prime Minister, the BJP has been hit by one political crisis after another in the state. Before the BJP could contain the Patel agitation, the dalit backlash has put the administration on a sticky wicket. What is worse for the BJP is that the Opposition is now using National Crime Records Bureau data which indicates crimes against backwards have risen after the BJP took over power. NCRB data compiled till 2014 shows that crimes against SCs and STs are up by 40 per cent.