There is anger welling up among brahmins and Thakurs against the Bharatiya Janata Party in Uttar Pradesh.
There is anger welling up among brahmins and Thakurs against the Bharatiya Janata Party in Uttar Pradesh.
These two upper-caste communities that enjoy the power of dominating over other castes and moulding public opinion to a large extent, are, for the first time, feeling completely ignored and sidelined in the BJP.
“Brahmins have been the mainstay of the BJP but now the party is completely dominated by OBCs. Brahmin leaders like Dr Murli Manohar Joshi and Mr Kalraj Mishra have been relegated to the wings. It is natural for the community to feel upset with the party,” said a senior brahmin leader in the BJP.
Brahmins in Uttar Pradesh had shifted to the Bahujan Samaj Party in 2007 which led Ms Mayawati to form the government with a comfortable majority. However, brahmins were thoroughly disillusioned with the BSP by 2012 because only one brahmin family — that of Mr Satish Chandra Misra — was given respect and importance and the community shifted back to the BJP in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
“OBCs are calling the shots in the BJP and the party is no longer as broad-based as it used to be. In UP, in particular, the BJP has opted for an OBC state president which indicates that brahmins and Thakurs have become redundant as vote banks for the party. The party leadership feels that it can ride to power on the strength of OBCs and dalits,” the party leader said.
The Thakur community that has been supporting the BJP since 1996 when Mr Rajnath Singh took over as state BJP chief is equally upset with the party.
When new state president Keshav Maurya arrived in Lucknow on Monday, Mr Rajnath Singh’s photograph was conspicuous by its absence on all hoardings and posters welcoming the new president in Lucknow. “It was certainly not an oversight but a deliberate move to insult Mr Singh who is also the MP from Lucknow. The message has gone down into the community and Thakur leaders are upset. One should not be surprised if Thakurs move back to the Samajwadi Party once again because that is where they get adequate attention and respect,” said a Thakur leader from one of the frontal organisations.
A veteran party leader said that the over-emphasis on OBCs and dalits would not help the BJP since the Samajwadi Party was firmly focused on OBCs and the BSP was concentrating on most backwards castes along with dalits. The Congress, too, was eyeing OBCs and dalits.
“The upper castes have been virtually abandoned by all political parties even though they exercise immense clout in the rural interiors and can swing the public mood. Our strategists should rethink their strategy for UP,” the leader said.
