THE BRAHMIN FACTOR

Brahmins have long been associated with the the saffron camp. In fact, the association grew stornger following the Ram Janmabhoomi movement in the late 1980s and for the subsequent construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya. In 2017, the Brahmins overwhelmingly returned to the saffron fold.

Despite this Brahmin support, the BJP gave the reins to a Thakur leader, Yogi Adityanath, and during his first term, the battle for power between the Brahmins and the Thakurs has continued. It “took a different turn” in 2020, when the UP cops killed Brahmin gangsters Vikas Dubey and Amar Dubey. In the next few days, the social media was deluged with messages of “Proud Brahmins” objecting to the encounter killing.

To encash it, BSP supremo Mayawati, too, had joined the chorus and tweeted the Adityanath govt “should not make the Brahmin community feel scared, terrorised and insecure.”

For the BSP, the party’s tally of Brahmin voters grew from 6 % in the 2002 Assembly poll to 17% in the 2007 poll. Yet, in that year, 42% of Brahmins endorsed their ballots for BJP, compared to 50% in 2002. In 2007, the SP also gained 7% in Brahmin votes. Even in 2012, 38% Brahmins voted for BJP. But during the 2019 Lok Sabha poll... everything was rewritten. A whopping 82% Brahmins voted for BJP, and just about as many Rajputs, according to the CSDS-Lokniti post-poll study. In addition, the “Modi factor” is said to have given the BJP a 12% vote share edge.