A fierce battle among the ruling Samajwadi Party, BSP and even the Rashtriya lok Dal (RlD) to win over the Brahmin community is going on. Close on the heels of the race to woo the minorities, political parties are now eyeing the upper caste votes ahead of the 2014 lok Sabha elections. The question now being asked is who is the bigger messiah of the Brahmins — the SP or the BSP.
Some time back, Mayawati had organised Brahmin bhaichara committees in an attempt to create an awareness among the Brahmins regarding BSP’s programmes for them. It was therefore not very surprising when even the SP held a function to mark Parshuram Jayanti in an effort to woo the Brahmins to their fold.
The BSP claimed that its national general secretary and party’s Rajya Sabha member Satish Chandra Mishra was its Brahmin face. The party had attributed its previous victory to the fact that the upper caste had voted it to power in the last Vidhan Sabha elections. It had even distributed a sizeable number of tickets to the community. The blue brigade had at that time come to power with a thumping majority in the Vidhan Sabha. But soon it realised that the party’s performance was not quite up to the mark in the last year lok Sabha polls.
At that time a peeved Mayawati had dissolved all the Brahmin bhaichara committees and had even sidelined SC Mishra. However, gradually her anger had cooled down.
Now, once again, as the 2014 lok Sabha elections are drawing near, the BSP has reactivated its campaign to lure the Brahmins. Similarly, the SP and RlD are also in the race to get Brahmin votes, which constitute about 11 per cent of the total State’s population.
But an important point has to be kept in mind — none of the political parties have a Brahmin leader, who can wield an influence over the upper caste masses. Despite the fact that BSP claims SC Mishra is its Brahmin face, BSP’s rivals are sceptical over Mishra’s vote base. In fact, none of the political parties are able to identify any of its Brahmin leader who has a large following. Gone are the days when stalwarts like former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and BJP’s mascot and the late Pandit Kamlapati Tripathi swayed the Brahmin masses to their respective parties.
In the absence of any senior Brahmin leader, the various party’s, are at best, making efforts to don masks of being messiahs of the Brahmins. At the same time they are reaching out to the minorities by claiming that they understand the problems being faced by them.
So, while the SP, the BSP and RlD have set their eyes on the Brahmin votes, the BJP, which was always carried the tag of being the party of the upper caste, and the Congress are trying to cash-in on their national character credentials.
look before you leap
After facing criticism from various quarters about his style of functioning, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav takes time before each decision. Of course, the bureaucrats say that there is inordinate delay when it comes to taking important decisions. But the Chief Minister believes that a delay is better than backtracking on a decision.
In the past, Akhilesh Yadav in his haste to take decisions has had to bite the dust several times. Now, that he is wiser, he ensures that his decisions are correct.
The whispers in the corridors of powers is that any important file reaching the Chief Minister takes so long to be finalised that they have to pursue the matter by sending frequent reminders before the matter gets clearance. A wag rightly pointed out that the Chief Minister has had to consult other power centres like his father and SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, his uncles Ram Gopal Yadav and Shivpal Yadav, not to mention erratic senior Minister Mohd Azam Khan who regularly makes the newspaper headlines for his controversies and temperamental outbursts in public. The most recent one being at the Boston airport as a result of which the Chief Minister had to cancel his visit to the Harvard University.
Cong needs a miracle
The Congress is thinking of undertaking a massive revamp exercise to meet the challenge in the coming lok Sabha elections. “Better late than never” said a senior party leader. Despite the fact that the part has recently appointed a new UPCC leader and Congress legislature Party leader, it is felt that their predecessors were much better when it came to mobilisation of the partymen.
Although Congress president Sonia Gandhi, vice-president Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Vadra have started making rounds in Uttar Pradesh in an attempt to woo the masses, the partymen feel a strong State leadership is essential in carrying forward the plans of the party at the grassroots level.
So, the party workers are waiting for a miracle that will push them on the political ladder. Will 10, Janpath be able to come to their rescue is anybody’s guess.