E-Paper
Uttar Pradesh: BJP to connect with voters who have stayed away from party
Chief minister Yogi Adityanath and the party’s state president Bhupendra Chaudhary mentioned how “religious and caste barriers” had broken down in Uttar Pradesh because of the party’s ‘pro-poor’ push.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday dropped broad hints at the party’s state working meeting in Lucknow that it would look to connect with such voters that had mostly stayed away from the party or been considered inimical to it.
This became more than obvious as chief minister Yogi Adityanath and the party’s state president Bhupendra Chaudhary mentioned how “religious and caste barriers” had broken down in Uttar Pradesh because of the party’s ‘pro-poor’ push.
To make it clear that the ambitious outreach wasn’t an empty one both the CM and the state BJP chief, made a detailed mention of June Lok Sabha by-poll wins in Azamgarh and Rampur, followed by its December win in the Rampur (Sadar) assembly seat.
All three seats have a sizeable Muslim population.
The Yogi government 2.0 is learnt to have cleared some big ticket schemes for the development of these constituencies – a move that would come in handy for the party in marketing its outreach among Muslims.
In the urban local body polls, pushed back till after March, the BJP has now decided to field a sizeable number of Muslim candidates.
Muslims, along with Yadavs (OBCs), are considered the mainstay of the chief opposition Samajwadi Party.
A series of pasmanda (backward) Muslim meets across the state are part of BJP plan to connect with minorities, party leaders said.
“We will make efforts to get all those, who believe in our ideology or those who are neutral, to align with us,” deputy chief minister Brajesh Pathak said at the state working committee meet.
“Now, all seats are being mapped. The seats we lost in 2019 Lok Sabha polls or didn’t do well in bypolls are in focus, so are seats where we won by a slender margin. Opposition seats are on our radar and several opposition leaders are already in touch,” a party leader said, underscoring the party plan with the 2024 Lok Sabha polls in mind.
Adityanath, too, referred to his government’s beneficiary outreach at the state working committee.
“Who could have thought that 45.5 lakh poor would get free houses, 2.61 crore poor would get toilets, another 1.74 crore would get a free cooking gas connection and 1.55 crore people would have electricity supply? Five lakh people in UP have got employment and these statistics showcase the government’s commitment,” Adityanath said.
“The BJP has created a new voter base comprising of labarthis (beneficiaries). All BJP top leaders talk big numbers while discussing beneficiaries, a term that transcends caste and religious barriers. The BJP is looking to cement its association with this group, a unique experiment for this group is vast, and spread out across parties,” said Manuka Khanna, a political science professor at Lucknow University. “U.P. will be the centre for the announcement of big-ticket schemes. In April when PM Modi’s ‘Mann ki Baat’ radio talk completes 100 episodes, the party would organise booth-level programmes. By 2024 the Ram temple will come up. The Vindhyavasini corridor, too, is in the making. Other religious centres, ignored earlier, are being developed. The global investors’ summit is going to showcase U.P. to a global audience. We are focused on both ‘dharmik aastha aur vikas (religious belief and development)’. We have so much to tell the people,” BJP leaders said.
