SP bid to shed Muslim-Yadav tag, win over all OBCs, Dalits
Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav with party’s Meerut candidate Sunita Verma at a public rally in Lucknow on Saturday.
In a bid to shed its Muslim-Yadav image, the Samajwadi Party has cut down on the number of candidates from these communities in its distribution of ticket for the Lok Sabha election. So far, out of 57 declared candidates, there are only four Muslims and four Yadavs. Overall, the party is contesting 62 seats in Uttar Pradesh.
Apart from 17 reserved seats, the SP has elded two Scheduled Caste candidates from the general seats in Meerut and Ayodhya, where the ruling BJP is heavily relying on the appeal of Lord Ram. These constituencies will vote in the second and third phases.
The SP has elded nine Kurmi candidates out of 28 from Other Backward Classes (OBCs). To nullify the damage caused by the resignation of Swami Prasad Maurya and to take advantage of the BJP’s internal tussle over the position of Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, the SP has given ticket to six candidates from the Shakya, Maurya, Saini, and Kushwaha communities. The party has also elded ve candidates from the Nishad and Bind communities, which fall under the most backward group.
‘Historic move’
Speaking to The Hindu, SP founding member and MP Ramjilal Suman described the candidature of two Dalits from general seats as a “historic move”, saying that it would send “the right message to the Dalits.”
From Ayodhya, the SP has elded senior party leader Awadhesh Prasad. Hailing from the Pasi community, he is a nine-time MLA and currently represents the Milkipur Assembly seat in Ayodhya. In Meerut, the party has pitched a woman Jatav candidate, Sunita Verma. She has been the chairman of the municipal corporation and is the wife of in¥uential Dalit leader and former MLA Yogesh Verma who grew in stature with the Bahujan Samaj Party.
Mr. Suman pointed out that Meerut and Ayodhya have a substantial number of Dalit voters. “Muslims and Yadavs were the party’s traditional voters and understood the party’s much-needed focus on non-Yadav OBCs and Dalits,” he said.
Senior SP leader and campaign manager Muneer Ahmad said that the party’s assessment had revealed that it was better to focus on the Kurmis and Mauryas directly rather than going through leaders whose in¥uence has diminished. Mr. Ahmad said that the push to woo Dalits and non-Yadav OBCs started in 2022, and is part of party president Akhilesh Yadav’s plan to outwit the BJP’s caste calculus.
However, it will not be easy to implement the new directions at the ground level. Changing the image of the ‘cycle’ — the SP’s poll symbol — in the minds of SC voters will take time, said Meerut-based Dalit activist Sushil Gautam. “Most Jatavs vote for the symbol of BSP and not the candidate,” he said. The All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) will not lightly cede the Muslim vote to the SP. Similarly, the BJP has brought back discontented regional leaders, and has employed Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini in western U.P., indicating that it is up to the challenge of the ‘cycle’s’ new direction.