W.Hile The Bharti Janata Party (BJP) keeps questioning Muslim loyalty through cherry-picketing episodes from history, Samajwadi Party MP Ramjilal Suman took a leaf from the BJP playbook after Rana Sanga’s patriotism. He held the 16th -century Rajput ruler responsible for inviting the founder of the Mughal Empire, Babur, to India to end the Lodhi rule.
When the violence, allegedly orchestrated by the Karni Sena-a self-style group that spies the cause of Kshatriyas-the SP leadership stressed his Dalit identity by condemning the attack. Attacking the Yogi Adityanath government, party president Akhilesh Yadav described the violence as an attempt to intimidate the PDA, a brief name Pitchdas (At the back), Dalit, and Ulcecan (Minorities), and Karni Sena are called “Yogi Sena”.
Earlier, citing a video of the alleged miscreants, where he thanked the law and order machinery, Mr. Yadav claimed that the army had the blessings of Mr. Adityanath. For reference, Shri Adityanath is from a Rajput family that falls under the Kshatriya group.
Catching Rana Sanga responsible for the Mughal entry into the subcontinent, Mr. Suman demanded the air out of the Aurangzeb controversy, which was exploded after senior party leader Abu Azmi Chorus Wave. The family roots of Shri Azmi are in Azamgarh, UP. Mr. Adityanath replied, “Send him up, we will give him treatment.”
The way Mr. Yadav has put his weight behind Mr. Suman, he indicates that he wants to build on the Rajput vs Dalit story and consolidates the Dalit-Muslim alliance which works for the SP during the Lok Sabha elections.
One of the supporters of the party’s PDA pitch, Mr. Suman underlined the ideological closeness between Ram Manohar Lohia, SP’s ideological Fountainhead and BR Ambedkar. In October 2024, he came with a private member’s bill to restore the minority situation of Aligarh Muslim University. It was seen as the north of the right -wing ecosystem, which claimed to protect the interests of the Scheduled Castes (SC), as the concept of SC/Scheduled Tribes reservation did not apply to minority institutions.
Mr. Suman is not alone in the construction of pulses-supporting story for SP. Dalit MLA Indrajit Saroj said in a program that if there was power in temples, Mohammad Ghori and Ghazni’s Mahmood would not have invaded India. Putting forward the debate launched by former party leader Swami Prasad Maurya, SP spokespersons highlight the alleged caste and gender-based discrimination in ancient texts on the TV debate.
Dalit outreach worked for the party in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Of the 17 reserved Lok Sabha seats for SCS in UP, the SP secured seven, and the Congress won one. In addition, a historic first, the party’s SC candidate won from the general seat of Faizabad (Ayodhya).
Political observers feel that the SP impressed the alleged injustice of the past, because unlike the BJP, which weaves a new episode in its Hindutva story in every fortnight, the party is not able to strengthen its PDA pitch again after the benefits of the Lok Sabha elections. For example, Shri Adityanath voted for the BJP in terms of life and death and called for “”Batang toh Catain ,
However, cherry-digging from the past does not work for anyone. A video of 2016, where senior SP member Azam Khan is seen describing Ambedkar’s idols that they motivate people to grab the land, revived. “The idol with a raised finger indicates that this land is ours and the land where the finger points to the finger is also ours,” Mr. Khan can be heard saying. Political observers say that the social behavior of Muslims towards Dalits is no different from Hindu groups of upper caste and other backward classes.
The waste of idols of Ambedkar in the state is displaced with regularity in newspapers. Observers say that SP workers do not go on the streets with the same strong belief as Dalit parties, because often, OBC groups indulge in barbarism. SP has to find a way to make social harmony Pitchdas And Dalits, to take on polarization. A Muslim party worker suggested that if the party announced that all its candidates in the assembly elections would be from the PDA, it could beat the BJP.
auj.kumar@thehindu.co.in
Published – 24 April, 2025 01:51 AM IST