E-Paper
"Caste Shining" for BJP
Caste arithmetic has returned with a bang in key states like Uttar Pradesh. Major players like the BJP seems to have realised that despite all the hype about India Shining and development, it is the right caste card which matters the most.
Caste arithmetic has returned with a bang in key states like Uttar Pradesh. Major players like the BJP seems to have realised that despite all the hype about India Shining and development, it is the right caste card which matters the most.
Reason: Opponents such as the Samajwadi Party and the BSP are by their very nature and organisation based on caste equations.
The BJP is now banking on Dalits, tribals and backward classes to bail it out in the third and fourth phase of the Lok Sabha elections.
Prompted by indications that the NDA could find it difficult to retain its majority in Parliament, the BJP is planning a blitzkrieg to win over Dalits, tribals and backward classes.
The party is despatching 25 leaders belonging to these communities to tour UP, Bihar, Haryana and other states where caste arithmetic holds the key. As BJP leaders put it, the party's thrust would be on ensuring that the scheduled castes (SCs), scheduled tribes (STs) and backward classes see the BJP as occupying the place that the Congress enjoyed in the 1970s and 80s.
Leading the campaign would be Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, Madhya Pradesh chief minister Uma Bharti, Kalyan Singh, Sangh Priya Gautam, Kanshi Ram Rana, Jual Oram, Karia Munda and Babulal Marandi.
Former BJP chief Bangaru Laxman, the party's first Dalit president who had to quit following the Tehelka episode, may also be enlisted.
The reason Modi's name figures in the list is because not only is he a Hindutva icon, he is also one of the most important backward class leaders for the BJP.
The BJP has suddenly realised that while Muslims hold 15 per cent of votes in UP and others areas, the share of Dalits, tribals and backwards is three times more. The party will go to these communities armed with a list of what the NDA has done for them.
