Caste groups active as BJP, Congress announce tickets

JAIPUR As leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress wrack their brains over their lists of candidates for the December 7 assembly elections, caste groups in Rajasthan are exercising political muscle to wangle their share of tickets.

At least six caste groups held meetings or press conferences this month to demand from the two principal parties tickets commensurate with their numbers.

The Meenas, under the banner of the Akhil Bhartiya Meen Sangh, wrote to Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and BJP chief Amit Shah on October 19 to demand 15 tickets from each. The group claimed that Meenas comprised 7.5% of the state’s 13.5% scheduled tribe (ST) population. In Rajasthan, 25 seats are reserved for STs.

In 2013, the BJP fielded 16 Meenas, of whom 10 won. The Congress gave tickets to 17 Meenas but only two were elected to the assembly.

On October 21, the Akhil Bhartiya Bairwa Mahasabha demanded 11 seats . The organisation of Bairwas, a scheduled caste (SC), said its members should get two tickets in Jaipur and one each in Alwar, Bundi, Bhilwara, Chittorgarh, Dausa, Kota, Karauli, Sawai Madhopur and Tonk.

“There are about 1.7 million Bairwas in Rajasthan. In 2013, the BJP fielded eight candidates from our caste, and the Congress gave tickets to six. Four won on BJP tickets. This year, we are demanding 11 seats,” said Bairwa Mahasabha’s national president, Hari Narayan Bairwa.

There are 34 seats reserved for SCs in Rajasthan.

The Mali community has demanded tickets from 20 assembly constituencies, where, according to the Rajasthan Mali (Saini) Mahasabha, they are at least 25,000 in number. “We are at least 200,000 in 15 Lok Sabha constituencies,” said Mali Mahasabha’s 65-year-old president, Chuttan Lal Saini. “We have given our list of candidates to Congress and BJP.”

In 2013, the Congress gave tickets to five Mali candidates, and the BJP and the BSP to four each. Four of these candidates won.

The Jats, the Kumhars/Prajapatis and the Brahmins, too, have demanded their share of tickets from both the parties, in a process that experts have termed commodification of a democratic process by caste groups.

“Caste has become a political tool. Initially the political parties used caste, now the caste groups are using political parties to cement their identities and consciousness,” said Rajiv Gupta, former head of sociology at the University of Rajasthan in Jaipur. “This is a dangerous sign as far as India’s democracy is concerned. ..”

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