Hardik Patel, BJP candidate from Viramgam constituency. , photo Credit: –
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a rainbow caste alliance
The transformation of Hindutva politics of the Bharatiya Janata Party under Narendra Modi is multi-layered, but one of its defining characteristics is its ability to subsume caste identity. Under Mr Modi, the BJP has cornered dominant castes – Patels in Gujarat, Marathas in Maharashtra, and Jats in UP and Haryana – facilitating the consolidation of many smaller caste groups.
The BJP in Gujarat was controlled by the Patel community before Mr. Modi came to power. The Patels challenged Mr. Modi on various occasions, but he won every time. Before the 2017 elections, a Patel rebellion led by Hardik Patel demanded OBC status for the community. Mr. Patel joined hands with the Congress and later became the working president of the party. In 2022, he left Congress for BJP and this time won as BJP candidate.
OBC leader Alpesh Thakor emerged as the leader of the OBC, SC and ST communities who mobilized these communities against Patel’s demand for reservation. He argued that reservation for Patels would make the very idea of reservation meaningless. Thakor also joined the Congress party, but left it in 2019. He too joined the BJP and won on Thursday.
These two represent two conflicting positions on one issue – the caste quota. In the good old days, the Congress had the ability to keep opposing interest groups in its tent. BJP does now. Even both Hardik Patel and Alpesh Thakor are BJP MLAs now.
How did BJP manage to bring them together? There are many factors, and one main component is the use of state power. Both Alpesh and Hardik faced police cases, and they realized that fighting the BJP was too risky. And the Patel community, which remains apathetic about the dominance it once enjoyed in the BJP, now feels that they can no longer dictate terms. It is one thing to try to strike a hard bargain with the BJP, and quite another to try to distance itself from the BJP electorally.
Not that Patel or other OBCs or Dalits are completely happy with the space and power they have found in the BJP. Resentment may erupt once again, but for now the BJP has put a check on them all. The position of Patels in Gujarat is somewhat comparable to that of Jats in Uttar Pradesh, who were against the BJP over the three controversial farm bills, but voted for the party in large numbers in the assembly elections. The BJP’s rainbow caste alliance is working in Gujarat, although discontent is simmering below.
Dimple Yadav did romance at home in UP overwhelming majority in MainpuriThe Lok Sabha seat fell vacant after the death of Samajwadi Party (SP) founder Mulayam Singh Yadav. SP’s current chief Akhilesh Yadav is the BJP’s main rival, but his community now has divided views about the saffron party. Yes, the by-election in the familial sphere after the passing of the patriarch smoothed out the multitude of conflicts within the extended family, and inspired the community. Whether this sentiment will continue in the general elections remains an open question.
The bypoll in north Bihar’s Kurhani assembly constituency gave clear indications of how caste dynamics are at work in the central region, where BJP’s Kedar Prasad Gupta defeated Janata Dal (United) candidate Manoj Singh Kushwaha by 3,632 votes. Defeated. In the 2020 assembly elections, the BJP candidate supported by JDU had to face defeat from Rashtriya Janata Dal candidate Anil Kumar Sahni by about 700 votes. This time JDU and RJD were on one side and BJP is contesting alone. managed to beat them, RJD and JDU try to project themselves as champions of OBCs, but their alliance is not working on the ground, the bypoll results are indicating.
federalism path
A revival: Imphal’s ‘Ima Kethel’ (Mothers’ Market) has its name in both English and Meetei Mayek. , Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
revive a dead script
The Meetei Mayek or Manipuri script, which was replaced by the Bengali script in the early part of the 18th century, fighting back, Language activism is also forcing Manipuri local media to switch to the Manipuri script, but the project’s viability remains questionable. “According to the Sahitya Akademi, the history of the Meetei Mayek script dates back to at least the 6th century and was used until the 18th century. In 1709, a Hindu missionary named Shantidas Gosai came to Kanglepak – the ancient name of the independent state of Manipur – to spread Vaishnavism. He charmed the king and the high officials of the palace, and on royal orders, all the religious and other precious books in Meitei Mayek were burnt, and new ones were written in the Bengali script.
On the one hand efforts are being made to assert regional identity, on the other hand there are Efforts to keep this region a part of Indian strategy For the Indo-Pacific, the emphasis is on the cultural sphere that extends beyond India’s political boundaries.