Struggling for ‘Secularism’: BSP polarise voters to be ‘secular’ ahead of UP elections
Lucknow, Sept 27: Though she raises her voice for Dalits in the parliament, she is a pro- ‘Secularist’. However Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati has love for every religion, sex and creed but only during the elections.
Hence, in order to showcase BSP as a ‘Secular’ political party, the BSP has fielded some of its most prominent non-Dalit leaders for the upcoming Uttar Pradesh polls. These leaders, often called as ‘Bhaichara Coordinators’ are assigned specific region to reach out to the communities they represent.
The BSP’s Brahmin face Satish Chandra Misra has been assigned the eastern and central UP apart from Bundelkhand while Ramvir Upadhyay MLA has his seats reserved in western UP.
In order to pull out more votes from Muslim community, BSP has chosen party General Secretary Naseem Siddiqui for western UP where he is supported with Rajya Sabha MP Munquad Ali in Varanasi, Allahabad and Mirzapur divisions and Naushad Ali for Bundelkhand and Athar Khan in Faizabad and Devipatan.
Kushwaha community has a notable presence in Uttar Pradesh and state BSP cheif Achal Rajbhar and former Speaker Sukhdeo Rajbhar have been assigned to protect the community votes.
Pratap Singh Baghel is wooing the Gaderiya (Pal) community in Agra region, former minister Lalji Verma addressing Kurmis in eastern UP and Terai, and former MP R K Singh Patel is in Bundelkhand and Allahabad.
Former minister Jaivir Singh will work among Thakurs in western UP, former MLA Jitendra Singh Babloo has been addressing sammelans in Faizabad and Basti, and Rasra MLA Umashankar Singh in Azamgarh.
Indian politics and elections is witnessing an unprecedented custom of classifying and polarising the voters under the label of caste.
Political parties in UP fight for Brahmin votes
Three major political parties namely Bharatiya Janata Party,Bahujan Samaj Party and Congress are eyeing on Brahmin votes which constitutes 11 per cent of the voters and stands third in total electorate after Dalits and Muslims.
BSP has scheduled to conduct around 30 rallies in the reserved constituencies to attract Brahmin votes. However, the upper caste community including Brahmins are unhappy with the reservation promotion.
Congress is leaving no stone unturned even by hailing leaders like Kamlapati Tripathi, N D Tiwari and Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna, the prominent Brahmin faces during Indira Gandhi years.
Muslim polarisation
Even the Bharatiya Janata Paarty (BJP) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has started executing strategy of counter polarising Hindu votes versus the Muslim votes. However, BSP and Samajwadi Party is in a fear of Muslim votes getting split due to BJP’s master plan.
In spite of aspiring for Muslim votes parties like BSP, SP and Congress adopt various political actions to appease the Hindus. For instance, SP in UP is taking Hindus on a pilgrimage under its policy, Shravan Teerth Yojana. This strategic policy, adopted earlier by BJP leader Sheoraj Singh in Madhya Pradesh, was beneficial in the association of Hindu votes.
The SP leaders and MLAs are providing financial assistance for the sculpting of idols of Hindu Gods and Goddesses. They are doing this not as voluntary social and religious work but because of the exposure on national media and the attention in the Lok Sabha that comes with it.
Therefore parties like BSP, who have emerged as the strongest contender for the Muslim votes, are critiquing the Hindutva brand of politics without raising the issues related to Muslims in an assertive manner. These parties wish to bring the Muslims within their fold gradually, like it had happened in Bihar. They want to polarise the Muslim votes in a concealed manner which does not lead to the counter polarisation of Hindus against them.
Although the caste card has been tested before, it remains to be seen how much the political parties gain or lose by adopting this new political posture.
