While the Congress is already getting jitters as the BJP is riding high on the NaMo factor, it may not be an easy going for BSP, which is once again angling for Brahmin support as it is making an all-out effort to repeat its past success of the most unexpected caste combo of dalit-brahmin-muslim vote bank in the 2007 Vidhan Sabha polls.
After holding at least 38 brahmin sammellans in different parts of the state, the party is now all set to culminate the first phase of its campaign by staging a Brahmin Maha sammelan in lucknow on July 9. The BSP supremo and former chief minister Mayawati is expected to address the gathering whereas the previous rallies were held under the leadership of the party’s Brahmin face, its national general secretary Satish Chandra Mishra.
The party has already given tickets to 20 brahmins out of its total 71 candidates to the lok Sabha in its list of prospective candidates announced so far. The population of the Brahmins is said to have increased from the previous 9 to 12 per cent. Hence the race for
Brahmin votes.
Perhaps what came as a surprise to the political circles was when the ruling Samajwadi Party also started following the footsteps of its bete noire and organized a Brahmin sammelan.
But BJP’s recent move of elevating Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as the party’s head of the election campaign and the echoes of Modi being pitted as the party Prime Ministerial candidate seems to have taken the wind out of the sail of BSP and SP’s competition to win over the Brahmins to their fold.
Although the BSP had widened its base from the party exclusively for the bahujan to sarva samaj, the party leaders may have to reframe their strategies in the wake of the BJP’s aggressive campaign for revival of the party. A senior BJP leader said the upper castes and Brahmins who had strayed away following the party’s dismal performance over the past several years was once more enthused as they felt that Modi’s magic would help them regain lost ground in the battle of hustings.
A glance at BSP’s rise in Uttar Pradesh shows that almost two years after the rode to power by a thumping majority in the Vidhan Sabha elections, the party had received a jolt in the 2009 lok Sabha polls as the Brahmins, who had once favoured the blue brigade deserted the party. Bahenji was so agitated by the betrayal of the upper castes that all the previous constituted bhai-chara samitis were dissolved.
The Brahmins were primarily annoyed by the BSP since they blamed the party for promoting only one family, which availed all the creamy
postings, perks and facilities. The results displayed the anger of the Brahmins since only five won out of the total 20 tickets given to
them.
Now once again the party is reaching out to the Brahmins as the bhai chara samitis have been revived ahead of the lok Sabha polls.
As the BJP had always been the natural choice of the uppercastes and Brahmins, the coming of NaMo on the political horizon has started haunting its opponents as there are apprehensions of the BJP’s traditonal vote bank returning home.