BJP’s development agenda in caste crossfire

Anil Anand
Clarity of thought and vision, no matter if there is a broader acceptability of that or not, has been the hallmark of both Naredra Modi Government and the ruling BJP during the last over four years. But the one area where the current ruling dispensation is finding itself trapped in the realm of uncertainty is the new dimension that the “upper versus lower castes” battle has acquired in the run up to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
At the bottom of this skewed battle is the thorny SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and its handling by the Centre particularly after Supreme Court affecting certain changes to it that were perceived by the political spectrum, barring the BJP initially, as a dilution. Ostensibly, in quest of harnessing the new vote base while taking the olden one for-granted, the clarity of thought and vision gave way to confusion.
The resultant scenario, particularly with the traditional “upper caste’ support base of the BJP threatening to revolt, is that the saffron party is finding itself in a trap with SCs on one side and the “upper castes” on the other flexing muscle. The Congress is also finding itself caught in somehow a similar situation particularly with respect to the upper castes thereby impelling it to recount its “Brahmin DNA” as the party’s chief spokesperson Randip Singh Surjewala drew a surprising parallel.
The Scheduled Castes were already squirming on the alleged dilution of the Act and the preceding incidents of attacks on them at various places in the country leading to those such as Lok Janshakti Party, a NDA ally, chief and Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan and even some SC MPs of the BJP championing their cause building pressure on their own Government to act and annul the Apex Court’s amendments. After initial reluctance, ostensibly with an eye on their traditional upper caste vote bank, Team Modi finally bowed to the pressure and did the needful.
Obviously, in doing this the idea was not to give much margin to political parties such as Congress, Samajwadi Party, BSP, Rashtriya Janata Dal and sundry regional outfits who champion the cause of SCs and STs, and prevent attempts at spoiling the party for BJP in coming polls to three state Assemblies and subsequent Lok Sabha.
As the Modi Government-BJP combine were preparing to reap benefits of the changes made in the SC/ST Act following alleged dilutions by the Apex Court and went on an overdrive to count the measures taken by them for the welfare of Scheduled Castes. In came the “upper caste” bombshell as they not only questioned the intention behind doing away with the highest court’s “safeguards” added to the Act primarily as a protection against false complaints for alleged violation of the Act, but hit the roads in poll bound states such as Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh, all currently BJP ruled and in the midst of Assembly elections. They held a threat of using the NOTA option if not vote against the BJP that definitely had a rattling affect on the BJP’s psyche.
The revolt is brewing among the “upper castes” or at least the threat to do so and the SCs not too favourably inclined towards the BJP, the question arises that would this new manifestation of caste war, in relation to elections, dominate the discourse during the coming election season and take toll of much talked about developmental agenda particularly that of Prime Minister Narendra Modi?
The threat is real and the challenge daunting for political parties particularly the BJP. It will be interesting to see whether the strong team of Modi-Amit Shah would successfully complete the tightrope walk by managing both the caste groupings favourably to ensure not only they retain power at the Centre but perform better as the claim is.
There was a strong point of view within the BJP that, despite initial reluctance, overturning the Supreme Court verdict on SC/ST Act and going over the top to claim it to be a game-changer for the party could cause more harm to the party than doing any good. Their fears seem to be coming true with the party’s traditional core support base threatening to revolt.
Senior BJP leader and former Union Minister Kalraj Mishra, a Brahmin leader from Uttar Pradesh without mincing the words cautioned his own party and Government. “The Act is being misused on the ground and it is leading to social tension. Innocent people are being framed and arrested under the law,” Mishra said. Realising the sensitivity of his statement and treading carefully so as not be seen as going against the BJP line, he urged all political parties to come together and make changes to the law. In doing so he left no one in doubt about dilemma that has grasped his own party caught between two caste extremities.
It is well known that the BJP’s impressive electoral victories in UP, 2014 Lok Sabha and subsequent Assembly, were the result of blurred caste lines or what the protagonists of Hindutava described as unification of the Hindu society. But subsequent developments particularly the attacks on SCs and minorities and muted reaction of the BJP’s top leadership to these happenings, led to a drastic change in the scenario which has now been further compounded by developments related to SC/ST Act.
Angry “upper caste” voter is definitely going to be a cause of worry for Modi and his strategists. As it is the core support base of the BJP is angered by the absence of any reference to building ‘Ram Temple’ at Ayodhya in the discussions held at the party’s national executive held in Delhi. The selection of the venue, Dr B R Ambedkar memorial located in Lutyan’s Delhi, to send across a message particularly to the SCs as how much the BJP cared for them, could in itself prove to be a irritant for the BJP’s core support base who would find it hard to accept any assurance from the party leadership on their face value.
The top BJP brass is a worried lot on threats by ‘upper castes’ to revolt could be gauged from the fact that both Modi and Shah held a high-level meeting of all their chief ministers and other senior leaders recently. Top on the agenda was concern over ‘upper caste unhappiness with the party’. The two leaders urged all their CMs and senior leaders attending this meeting to address concern of the protesting ‘upper castes’ and resolve the issue at all costs.
The meeting, it is said, had been convened in the backdrop of detailed internal assessment by the party which in turn was based on feedback from ground zero as well as from other sources. The crux of the feedback was that “all is not well” on ground.
It might sound too late to build such an atmosphere as the elections are round the corner. In some measures it seems that the BJP would have to tread on a bumpy ride in the run up to 2019 Lok Sabha elections given the challenges posed by the caste complexities and conflicts. The party experienced it in the Gorakhpur, Phulpur and Kairana Lok Sabha bi-elections in UP recently.
However, dilemma for BJP is going to be worst confounded now that despite all out outreach efforts to bring SCs to its permanent fold, the efforts are not paying dividends now as was the case in 2014. On the contrary, these efforts have resulted in a more severe adverse reaction in the form of ‘upper castes’ threatening to abandon BJP.
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