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UP polls: BJP out to breach BSP’s Jatav vote bank
In the 2017 UP polls, the BJP won 69 out of 84 reserved seats, its allies bagged five while focusing on the non-Jatav dalits
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The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), its dalit-centric frontal organisations and the Ambedkar Mahasabha are reaching out to dalit electors across the state and aiming to breach the Jatav vote bank of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in the UP polls.
In the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections and the 2017 UP polls, the BJP had mobilised dalit voters, focusing on the non-Jatavs.
This time, away from the media glare, separate teams led by Lalji Nirmal, chairman of Ambedkar Mahasabha Trust, Kanta Kardam, a prominent dalit leader of Meerut and local SC/ST wing leaders of the BJP are connecting with dalit voters for the UP polls.
Out of the around 21% dalit population in Uttar Pradesh, approximately 9% are Jatavs, the sub-caste to which BSP chief Mayawati belongs and about 12% are non-Jatavs.
In the 2017 assembly polls, the BJP won 69 out of 84 reserved assembly seats and its allies bagged five, taking the alliance’s total tally of reserved seats to 74.
In run-up to the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls and before Election Commission (EC) announced the election schedule on January 8, Nirmal had reached out to the dalit community in several districts of the state.
Dalits have a sizable presence in western parts of the state, where polling is scheduled in the first phase on February 10 for the seven-phase assembly elections.
“A sizable section of non-Jatav voters is with the BJP. In this election, we are trying to mobilise the Jatav community of dalits which has a sizable presence in western Uttar Pradesh,” said Lalji Nirmal.
Nirmal is also chairman, Uttar Pradesh Scheduled Caste Finance and Development Corporation. The BJP’s dalit morcha is leaving nothing to chance for the 2022 battle. It is reaching out to dalit settlements.
For instance, Nirmal has toured Rae Bareli, Kanpur Dehat, Fatehpur, Sitapur, Mirzapur, Bhadohi and Varanasi to connect with the dalit voters.
“We are getting a good response from the dalit community. Every family we contacted had benefited from some scheme of the Centre or the state government. For the last one year, we have been traversing across the state, delivering benefits of the government’s welfare schemes to the dalits,” said Nirmal.
In the 2017 assembly polls, the BJP focused on non-Jatav dalits comprising mainly Valmiks, Khatiks, Pasis and Koris, among others.
With the BJP also focusing on the Jatavs, the party has roped in former Kanpur police commissioner Asim Arun, who belongs to the Jatav community.
Former Uttarakhand governor Baby Rani Maurya, the BJP candidate from Agra Rural (reserved) seat, is also a Jatav and the BJP’s national vice-president.
Brij Lal, former director general of police, Uttar Pradesh, is also among the BJP’s prominent dalit faces in Uttar Pradesh.
