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Lok Sabha Elections 2019: BJP ramps up its Dalit outreach, eyes non-Jatav votes in UP
Th BJP’s move to mobilise Dalit voters in Uttar Pradesh comes even as political observers says the SP- BSP alliance will give a tough fight to the BJP in the Lok Sabha polls in the state.
Away from the media glare, various Dalit- centric frontal organisations of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are moving from one Uttar Pradesh city to another to mobilise Dalit voters, especially the non-Jatav community, behind the party.
The Ambedkar Mahasabha and other lesser-known Dalit bodies are among those reaching out to the community in all 80 parliamentary constituencies across the state.
The move comes even as political observers says the SP- BSP alliance will give a tough fight to the BJP in the Lok Sabha polls in Uttar Pradesh. This alliance has a formidable Muslim-Yadav-Dalit (MYD) voter base behind it, they say, adding the MYD population is higher than 50% in 47 parliamentary constituencies in the state. Out of the around 21% Dalit population in Uttar Pradesh, (approximately) 9% belong to BSP chief Mayawati’s Jatav subcaste and nearly 12% are non-Jatavs.
With Jatavs rallying behind Mayawati, the BJP is concentrating on the non-Jatav Dalit vote bank. Separate teams of the BJP led by Lalji Nirmal, chairman, of the Uttar Pradesh Schedule Caste Finance and Development Corporation, and Vidya Sagar Sonkar, state general secretary of the BJP, are on the move to reach out to the Dalit community.
“We are getting a good response from the Dalit community. For the last two years, we have been on the move delivering benefits of the state government’s welfare schemes to dalits at their doorsteps,” said Nirmal.
Kanta Kardam, a Jatav leader from Meerut, and Manju Diler, member of the National Commission for Safai Karamcharis are also a part of the BJP’s core Dalit team. National commission for scheduled caste chairman Ram Shankar Katheria is also touring the state.
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