Cracks in the wall of UP’s ‘socially engineered’ caste

Of all the five soon-to-be state assembly elections, perhaps Uttar Pradesh is attracting the most attention. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath mentioned this in his recent statement ’80 per cent vs 20 per cent’, expressing confidence of his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government and the party to remain in power. The intention is clear – to polarize on communal lines to win the coming elections. After his controversial statement generated much political heat, Mr. Adityanath tried to give a very different interpretation to his statement. Apart from such polarization, he had great faith in the caste-based ‘social engineering’ of the BJP-Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

But last week, the unthinkable happened when cracks began to emerge in the famous ‘social engineering’ of the BJP-RSS in Uttar Pradesh. Surprised and surprised when several ministers and MLAs, including BJP leader Dharam Singh Saini and senior minister Swami Prasad Maurya, resigned from the party. Many of them have joined the Samajwadi Party (SP) and there is speculation about the resignations of more BJP leaders. Most of these leaders are from non-Yadav Other Backward Classes (OBC). In recent years, the BJP-RSS alliance has campaigned to link non-Yadav backward castes to ‘Hinduism politics’ as part of its so-called social engineering agenda. There is no doubt that it has been successful to a great extent.

The BJP is a party that has not only won the most number of elections in recent years, but also has strong financial and organizational roots. Hasn’t Uttar Pradesh been called ‘the new laboratory of the RSS’ even in the last five years? Among the top leaders and strategists, Mr. Adityanath has also been considered the ‘most eligible face’ for the post of Prime Minister after Narendra Modi. Last year, an ‘RSS intellectual’ told me in an informal conversation that whether the Indian Constitution has changed or not, if Mr. Adityanath becomes the Prime Minister, India will effectively be called a ‘Hindu Rashtra’ because of his ‘saffron’. Dress’ and ‘Unwavering commitment to Hindutva’. It is under Yogi Maharaj that we are now witnessing exodus of MLAs and even ministers from their own council of ministers with speculations of more resignations.

The most surprising thing is that apart from the central and state agencies, the RSS’s own network was not even aware of this rebellion of so many ministers-MLAs from the backward classes. The key questions are: Does this ‘rebellion’ reflect party-hopping before the general election when MLAs don’t get their favorite tickets? Or is it a sign of something deeper? That the social base of BJP-RSS is really breaking down among OBCs in UP?

From ‘Mandal’ to ‘Kamandal’

Sangh and BJP strategists have often declared that even in a large state such as UP – such as Gujarat or Madhya Pradesh – they have divided a large section of the backward population through ‘mandal politics’ and have been completely replaced by kamandals. brought in the realm of politics, that is, Hindutva. If this is true, then how can one explain that leaders like Swami Prasad Maurya, Dara Singh Chauhan or Dharam Singh Saini, who have no trouble about their ticket or tickets for their supporters in BJP, rebelled against the party. Why did you do it?

A Lucknow-based writer friend who has a very close relationship with Swami Prasad Maurya (he comes from the same social background) had this to say when I asked him about the minister’s political mood; This happened when Mr. Maurya was still a minister: “After Maurya”Yes Joined BJP, I stopped meeting him. The minister talks about keeping in touch, but I have told him clearly that as long as he remains in the Hindutva party, it is not possible to have a comfortable relationship with him! This is just one example of how these leaders were perceived as untrustworthy and unpopular in their own social base. Over the past five-seven years, Dalit and backward communities have begun to feel a sense of alienation from Hindutva politics, especially in the economic and social spheres, and on the question of fair share, rather than dominance, in governance and employment. ‘Communal-secular’ discourse. But top BJP leaders were unwilling to understand or address the process, believing that Prime Minister Modi’s eloquent speeches, the ubiquitous network of the RSS, the BJP’s money power and its election management ability could help address these issues. will be able But now the BJP leadership is shocked and upset by the rebellion of OBC leaders.

factors behind the decline

My assessment is that the BJP’s Hindutva politics is slowly fading away among the backward classes of Uttar Pradesh. First, there is a lack of an effective and authentic OBC leader at the Centre. There is no such leader in UP also. Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya has been irrelevant because of his ineffective reach during Mr. Adityanath’s chief ministership. The BJP only used him to make communal rhetoric. Mr. Modi may have once called himself an OBC. But now, no one considers them OBC in the densely populated states of OBC like UP and Bihar. After the peasant movement, he is now seen by the OBC farming community as big corporates and representative of Hindutva, the ideology of ‘conservative upper caste Hindus’.

The 103rd Constitutional Amendment to give 10% reservation to the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) of the upper caste has also contributed to the tarnishing of the Prime Minister’s ‘OBC image’. One such extra-constitutional amendment was enacted under pressure from the RSS, leading to strong protests by OBC youth on social media.

The way OBC reservations were put in jeopardy for admission to all India medical courses, etc., also sparked outrage against the BJP. In this case, the efforts of a regional party, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam to restore reservation in Tamil Nadu, have drawn applause among the backwards in UP and Bihar. Social media has been flooded with complimentary messages for Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin from the Hindi-speaking backward population. Another episode related to reservation that has pitted the vocal section of OBCs against the BJP is the initiative to divide OBC reservations into categories, this time on the basis of the Justice G Rohini Commission report – some backward leaders of the BJP. Critical comments have been made against this effort.

Issues in Agriculture, Census

Like every other community, OBCs are also deeply troubled by inflation and unemployment. The official unemployment figures highlight the worrying situation in UP. Due to a controversial decision taken by the Yogi Adityanath government, farms are being affected by non-milk or surplus animals, causing damage to the agricultural profession. In a state like UP, OBCs take the largest share of the population in agriculture. In a Right to Information (RTI) reply on beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-Kisan) scheme, the Union Agriculture Ministry stated that the share of OBCs among the people involved in farming in India is 41.5 per cent. In my estimation this number will not be less than 52% in UP. Apart from Punjab and Haryana, western UP was also most affected by the peasant movement, but the entire farming community in UP experienced its enthusiasm. OBC farmers are angry with the way farmers were oppressed during the agitation.

The third and important reason has been the categorical denial of the BJP and the central government in their earlier decision regarding the caste census. There is now a lot of anger among the backwards and many rallies, seminars and press conferences have been held on this issue in many areas including Varanasi, Ghazipur, Jaunpur, Azamgarh and Lucknow.

Now, Ambedkar’s ideology

The fourth reason is that in the last few years, a growing section of OBC youth in the entire Hindi speaking region including Uttar Pradesh, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar’s ideology has come under the influence. Till a few years ago, only a few intellectuals knew the names of Narayan Guru, Ayyankali, Periyar, Jyotiba Phule, Sahu Ji Maharaj, Savitribai Phule, Fatima Sheikh etc. As a result of the efforts made by the educated youth of Dalit and backward community, today his name and his work resonate in almost every village of Hindi speaking region. Social media has also been a catalyst.

In the post-2014 era, the ideology of social justice has been promoted and propagated by the youth of these communities and not by leaders like Mayawati of Bahujan Samaj Party and Akhilesh Yadav of SP in UP. Has not been very vocal about his basic politics of justice. One reason for this could be their concern about reopening of cases by central agencies.

But lakhs of Dalit and OBC youth communities are clearly fearless. The impact of his campaign has not only been felt by officers, teachers, lawyers or farmers from Dalit and OBC backgrounds, but has also been felt by leaders who ‘namaskar’ to the BJP for reasons such as frequent government posts since 2014. are. (and with it social prestige), or to economic and political success. All these things have weighed heavily on the ‘social engineering’ of the BJP-RSS alliance in UP, it is difficult to say what will happen next. It will be safe to say that the ruling party in UP will not find this election easy.

Urmilesh is a Delhi-based freelance journalist and writer and former executive editor of Rajya Sabha TV (RSTV). His recent books (Hindi) are ‘Christopher Cadwell in Ghazipur’ and ‘Mum Ka Gaon Godse Ki Gali’. The article was translated from Hindi by Avnish Kumar, British Academy Newton International Fellow, University of Edinburgh