Comments
The entry of Gorakhpur MP Pravin Nishad into the BJP on Wednesday, along with an alliance with the Nishad Party, underlined the ruling party’s thrust on keeping its strategy to keep non-Yadav OBCs and non-Jatav Dalits in its fold against the Mahagathbandhan of the SP-BSP and the RLD in Uttar Pradesh.
The BJP had received a shocking defeat in Gorakhpur — a Parliamentary seat held by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for over two decades before the party won the UP Assembly elections in 2017 — at the hands of Samajwadi Party which fielded Pravin Nishad as its candidate.
Along with Pravin Nishad who joined the BJP, the president of the Nishad Party, Sanjay Nishad, announced an alliance with the BJP. Nishad Party represents a group of roughly 17 boatmen communities such as Kewats and Mallahs, which are classified as OBCs and demand inclusion in the Scheduled Castes category. They constitute about 2.6 per cent of UP’s population and are concentrated especially in the eastern region.
“Pravin Nishad has joined the BJP and Sanjay Nishad has entred into an alliance with us. This is a natural alliance because the BJP, under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, represents the most oppressed and backward sections of the society which have been ignored by all other parties,” said Union Minister JP Nadda who welcomed Pravin and Sanjay Nishad at the BJP headquarters on Wednesday.
Wooing castes
This is part of the BJP’s continuous effort in Uttar Pradesh to wean away the numerous OBC and Dalit communities which are not socially and numerically dominant such as the Yadavs among the OBCs and the Jatavs among the Dalits.
The strategy aims to reduce the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP)’s core vote to Mayawati’s caste, the Jatavs, and the Samajwadi Party (SP)’s core vote to Mulayam Singh Yadav’s caste, along with attracting other communities such as Sainis/Malis, Kashyaps, Kuhars, Badhais, Lohars, Lodhs and Patels among the OBCs and Valmikis, Khatigs and Pasis among the Dalits.
The BJP’s alliances in UP, with Nishad Party and Apna Dal which has been allotted the Mirzapur and Robertsganj Parliamentary seats, are indicative of the party’s continuing efforts to woo these communities.
The Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP), which has so far not been accommodated in the BJP’s seat sharing exercise, but has been aligned with the ruling party, represents the Rajbhar community among the OBCs. Rajbhars are agricultural labourers counted among the 17 Most Backward category (MBCs) within the OBCs in UP and account for roughly 2.6 per cent of the population, mostly concentrated in the eastern region.
The UP government announced, just before the Election Commission announced poll dates and the Moral Code of Conduct kicked in, the appointment of nearly 75 leaders as chairpersons and members of almost two dozen autonomous boards, commissions and corporations in UP.
The SBSP leader Om Prakash Rajbhar’s son Arvind Rajbhar was appointed chairman of the UP Laghu Udyog Nigam Ltd besides six more party leaders and supported who were adjusted in similar institutions. Eight Apna Dal leaders and supporters were similarly adjusted in corporations and autonomous bodies.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.