With an unprecedented victory margin in the assembly elections in UP, the BJP has been keen to make the State a model for governance. Its eye is firmly on the 2019 general election as UP accounts for 80 seats in Parliament. One big chunk of that model includes rallying Hindus across caste segments under one Hindutva umbrella. Led by Amit Shah, the president of the party, experiments with non-Brahmin Hindutva have increased, and the party has made some inroads among Dalits. But recent incidents show the BJP’s flirtation with the complex caste dynamics may not always have the expected results. Many from the Dalit community are keen to develop an independent identity, separate even from the BSP, which is steadily losing its hold. New entrants such as the Bhim Sena, evoking the legacy of BR Ambedkar, have found an large increasing following. A recent peaceful protest by the organisation, led by its founder Chandrasekhar, a lawyer, saw a sea of humanity assembling at Jantar Mantar in Delhi. These protests followed a spurt of violence between Dalits and upper caste Thakurs in Saharanpur, UP. It doesn’t help that Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is a Thakur and the allegations are that the local administration and police were biased against the Dalits.

The new-found assertion among the community will find another reason to consolidate after the Centre’s move to regulate the sale of cattle for slaughter, almost making it an impossible business. The ban on slaughterhouses in UP had grossly impacted Dalits. After Rohith Vemula’s suicide in Hyderabad and the Una incident in Gujarat last year, when Dalits were beaten up by gaurakshaks , the uprising among Dalits has taken a pan-India form. While this doesn’t bode well for the BJP and its idea of an inclusive Hindutva, it remains to be seen which political party is able to win the confidence of a community that is aspiring to come out of the social and economic margins.

Deputy Editor

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