Caste in a formidable mould
Dalitbackward unity has potential to change contours of state politics
LUCKNOW: When Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav decided to field Nirbal Indian Soshit Hamara Aam Dal (NISHAD) party leader Praveen Kumar Nishad as the SP candidate for the Gorakhpur Lok Sabha seat, the move surprised his rivals as well as political observers.
“It seemed the SP had accepted defeat before the bypoll by importing a candidate from another party that has an insignificant base in the area,” said BJP leader Dharmendra Singh.
“What the rivals termed a political gaffe turned out to be a political master stroke of Akhilesh,” said Rajesh Kumar Mishra, former head of sociology department at Lucknow University. By winning the support of the dominant Nishad and Kurmi communities, he was able to shape a combination of backward castes —Yadavs, Nishads and Kurmis who have a sizeable presence in Gorakhpur and Phulpur, he said.
The BSP’s support swung the Dalit vote to the SP giving it enough muscle to breach the BJP fort, he said. The SP roped in the support of the Peace Party that enjoys considerable hold over the Muslims, particularly weavers’ community.
The backward- dalit and Muslim combination upset the applecart of the BJP that had fielded a Brahmin Upendra Dutt Shukla to maintain its hold on the upper castes. The BJP was depending on the magic of chief minister Yogi Adityanath who had represented the Gorakhpur seat for five consecutive terms in the Lok Sabha.
In Phulpur, the BJP worked on the backward- upper caste formula by fielding a Kurmi, Kaushalendra Singh Patel, he said. Deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, an OBC, as well as Apna Dal leader and union minister Anupriya Patel campaigned for the party but the antiincumbency factor also worked against the BJP, Mishra said. A majority of the urban and rural poor opted for the SP-BSP alliance, Mishra said.
He said the BJP strategist should know that SP- BSP alliance was a deadly combination that could marginalise the BJP and the Congress in state politics. Although Brahmin, Thakur, Vaishya, Kayastha and Bhumihars had a significant population in the state, they cannot match the Dalit- backward unity that constitutes over 60% of the state population, he said.
If both communities unite, UP will become like Tamil Nadu where backwards and Dalits were dominating politics, he said. “The Akhilesh- Mayawati alliance is different from coalition formed by Mulayam Singh Yadav- Kanshi Ram in 1993. Earlier, the Yadavs and Dalits were competing for space in state politics whereas today both the castes are fighting for political survival,” said Sanjay Kumar, a political observer.
Independent candidate Atiq Ahmed, who contested the Phulpur Lok Sabha seat, polled around 50,000 votes, indicating disenchantment among a large number of Muslims with the secular parties- the Congress and SP.By joining hands, the SP- BSP combine checked the polarisation of votes that gave the edge to the BJP in the election, he said.