The election for the 16th lok Sabha is unique in the sense that right-wing BJP has taken lead in attracting Dalit leaders ensuring the party no longer remains untouchable to the elusive ‘caste votes’
Despite India making great strides on the economic front in the last two decades and the consequent emergence of a burgeoning middle class, the question of caste has refused to go into oblivion, particularly during elections. The general election for the 16th lok Sabha is no exception to this rule. In fact, it has reemerged with renewed vigour warranting political parties to look for new sets of caste equations.
While the ruling party took decisions keeping in mind caste votes, the Opposition BJP didn’t lag behind in forming new caste ties. While the Congress-led UPA pats its back for inclusive politics and the BJP swears to fulfil the aspirations of the youth and middle class in the light of its prime ministerial candidate showing new hope, both understand the power of caste. This is why the UPA Cabinet hurried to extend OBC reservation for Jats, who are a strong political force, just before the Model Code of Conduct came into force. On the other hand, the BJP-led
conglomerate is leaving no stone unturned to attract the leaders of different castes, especially Dalits and Other Backward Castes, into its fold.
It is an open secret that Jats are a dominant caste group in Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Western Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. If one recalls and goes through the media reports on the anti-Mandal agitation of 1990, one might wonder how Jats, who were on the forefront of the agitation in north Indian States, can be given the same reservation against which they ran riots. local Jat leaders in Panipat and Sonipat had then led the anti-Mandal movement wreaking havoc on road, and preventing Dalits to visit fields even for attending the call of nature. Jat leader Devi lal was the flag bearer of the agitation. They had then also mobilised public opinion by writing on personal vehicles slogans like Jat Aarakshan Virodhi Morcha in protest against the Mandal Commission Report implemented by the VP Singh regime.
Now, the Supreme Court has rightly questioned the rationale behind such a move (Jat quota) of the Congress-led UPA Government. Interestingly, the Congress, which paid no heed to Jats’ clamour for a decade, has now succumbed to their demands for votes. This is a general understanding keeping in mind the timing of the implementation of such a decision despite reservations expressed by the National Commission for Backward Classes.
One may also recall why the Gujjars of Rajasthan are demanding reservation under the Scheduled Tribe, instead of OBC that has already been accorded to them. In fact, the Gujjar agitation for ST status gained momentum after the inclusion of Jats of Rajasthan in the State list of OBC, as Jats were considered to be in a position to take away the OBC benefits at the cost of Gujjars, who are in a relatively worse position socially, economically and educationally.
Another evidence of caste being an important factor in the 2014 election is the induction of OBC leaders. The BJP has taken the lead in this regard, maybe because the party is becoming less untouchable under the new leadership. The homecoming of Kalyan Singh in Uttar Pradesh and BS Yeddyurappa in Karnataka has boosted caste equations for the BJP. Kalyan Singh belongs to lodh caste that has a considerable number in
western and Central Uttar Pradesh. While Yeddyurappa, a strong lingayat leader of Karnataka, has the potential to regain ground for the BJP in the general elections after the party lost its sheen in the Assembly election in 2013 when lingayats stayed away from the BJP.
However, the NDA has not been able to make its position clear in Haryana, despite its alliance with the Janhit Congress of Kuldeep Bishnoi, who comes from a less known and less numerical caste formation. Still, the Akali Dal (SAD) and the BJP have not left hope for some Jat support in Haryana as SAD leader and Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhwinder Singh Badal went for the nomination of the grandson of Om Prakash Chautala from Hisar, though its alliance partner chief Kuldeep Bishnoi is the candidate from the same seat.
Dalit leaders in demand
This is perhaps the first time in the history of India that Dalit leaders have shown inclination to join a political formation having least concern even in words for the Dalits, leaving aside their social commitment to anti-right wing politics. Interestingly these are the leaders who have been opposing the BJP all their life, but at the fag-end of their political career they have reversed their stand.
The alliance between Ram Vilas Paswan’s lok Janshakti Party and the BJP is set to improve prospects of both in the caste-ridden politics of Bihar. Paswan had left the NDA Government at the Centre in 2002 criticising the Modi Government for alleged connivance in the Gujarat riots of 2002. But the new ties are a political compulsion for survival for the lJP, as it had scored zero in the last lok Sabha election. For the BJP, it has got a formidable Dalit face in Ram Vilas Paswan to attract the elusive Dalits votes. This could be justified further by a recent IBN7-CSDS poll survey in Gujarat which claimed that 70 per cent Dalits of Gujarat support the Congress, despite the so-called Modi-wave.
Another Dalit leader who has been welcomed by the BJP is former bureaucrat Udit Raj, who changed his name from Ramraj to Udit Raj in 2000s when he was leading agitation for reservation in promotions and had been persuading Dalits for conversion to Buddhism. Though he does not have a consistent and formidable following like Ram Vilas Paswan, his being a Dalit and having been a name in the newspapers in the last decade might have attracted the attention of the BJP.
However, the most interesting aspect of 2014 election is the coming together of Dalits and Muslims for the Bahujan Samaj Party in UP in the light of Muzaffarnagar riots. Muslims who were the loyal votary of the Samajwadi Party is angry with the Akhilesh Government for lack of support from the SP. As the affected persons consider the Congress equally complicit in the tragedy, the BSP stands to gain from the new equation.
In the recent past, there is a dominant opinion among the lower class Muslims who converted from Dalit that Muslim elite has not been able to take the community forward. The realisation has created a separate group of have-not votes from among the Muslims. This shows that Muslims are not a homogeneous lot, and a caste-like division is emerging among them, adding another brand to the caste politics ahead of the general election, 2014.
(Narender Kumar is Associate Professor at Centre for Political Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.)