Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah on Tuesday had lunch with a dalit family in Varanasi’s Sewapuri block as a part of the party’s campaign to connect with the poor and downtrodden sections of
Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah on Tuesday had lunch with a dalit family in Varanasi’s Sewapuri block as a part of the party’s campaign to connect with the poor and downtrodden sections of society.
Accompanied by a group of senior local party leaders, Mr Shah had lunch at the home of Girija Prasad Bind in Jogiyapur village. The menu for Mr Shah included nenua ki sabzi (sponge gourd cooked in a way that is peculiar to Varanasi), parval ki sabzi, dal, rice and rotis.
However, when it came to water, Mr Shah opted for bottled mineral water.
Before the meal, Mr Shah was given a traditional welcome that included aarti and showering of flower petals by the women.
He was offered jaggery and water, followed by a round of pakoras before he and 16 others sat down on the ground for the meal cooked by the women of the house.
Kiran Devi, who led the cooking team, was delighted as this was the first time she was meeting a big politician. She said Mr Shah thanked the women for the “delicious meal”.
Girija Prasad Bind sounded equally thrilled. “I am happy that the BJP president accepted my invitation and visited my house. This is the first time that a senior leader has come to the village,” he said.
Jogiyapur is a Bind-dominated village in Varanasi which is Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Lok Sabha constituency. Jogiyapur village has over 100 Dalit families.
The Bind community in Uttar Pradesh, mainly involved in making reed mats (chatai), is part of the Other Backward Castes (OBCs), but is now known as the Most Backward Castes (MBCs) along with 16 other communities. The MBCs are fighting to be included in the scheduled caste category.
The MBCs, who constitute about 4.5 per cent of the state’s OBC population, which is about 45 per cent of the total population of Uttar Pradesh, is economically, socially and educationally most backward.
By reaching out to the Bind community in this very homely manner, the BJP wants to take advantage of the disenchantment of MBCs with the ruling Samajwadi Party. This is the first time that the BJP has chosen to interact with the MBCs and political analysts feel that this may be the beginning of a new campaign for the BJP.
The Bahujan Samaj Party reacted sharply to the event. Ms Mayawati said in a statement that while the BJP had turned a blind eye to the desecration of a statue of late Kanshi Ram in Gurugram, the party president was doing “political dramebazi” by having lunch at the house of an MBC family.
UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav too took a swipe at Mr Shah’s lunch with the Dalit family and said that this was being done with an eye on the UP Assembly polls.
