After the recent assembly elections, BJP is going to form government in three states (Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan).
Power has been retained in one of these (Madhya Pradesh), while in two states (Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan) the party has returned to power after five years by defeating the Congress.
Along with this, the party has surprised everyone by preparing a new political pitch for new leadership in the three states.
By bringing in new faces as Chief Ministers and Deputy Chief Ministers in Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, BJP has created a strong symbolic base for the lower class groups of the society and has tried to give a new message by creating new social engineering.
BJP has done this in view of the demand of caste census from the opposition, especially Congress. By doing this, BJP has tried to expand the representation of Other Backward Classes (OBC), Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) as well as mobilize that class in its fold.
Whom did BJP choose and why?
The BJP has elected its first tribal chief minister in Chhattisgarh in Vishnudev Sai, while Arun Sao, who is from the OBC Teli community, and Vijay Sharma, a Brahmin leader who defeated Congress’s Mohammed Akbar from Kawardha, are expected to become deputy chief ministers. There is a possibility. Even in Madhya Pradesh, BJP has surprised by making Mohan Yadav the Chief Minister.
He belongs to the Yadav caste of OBC, which has pioneered Lohiaist and anti-Hindutva politics in UP and Bihar. In Madhya Pradesh, one Deputy CM, Jagdish Deora, is a Dalit and the other, Rajendra Shukla, is a Brahmin.
Only in Rajasthan has the party elected an “upper caste” chief minister in Bhajan Lal Sharma. There also one Deputy CM Premchand Bairwa is a Dalit while the other Diya Kumari is from Rajput community. Bhajan Lal is the person who became the Brahmin Chief Minister of Rajasthan after 33 years.
Why did BJP make such a change?
In both the states of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, two each of the top executive posts in the government are from OBCs and Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
In Rajasthan too, a Dalit face has been given a place in the top leadership. That means out of total nine posts, five posts have been given to OBC, SC-ST.
Perhaps for the first time, the BJP has not had to think too deeply about alienating the “upper castes” in the top leadership.
However, it is also a truth that the Brahmin community, which constitutes about five percent in the country, has got the post of one Chief Minister and two Deputy Chief Ministers in three states.
Apart from these, two faces from the Rajput community have been given the post of Assembly Speaker and one of Deputy Chief Minister. Through these efforts, BJP has tried to make the upper caste sit on the side seat instead of down from the driving seat and has tried to create a new social engineering.
Upper castes are core voters of BJP
Upper castes form a major part of BJP’s votebank. BJP has increased the representation of backward and Dalit castes at the top level of power on the assumption that if caste census is done then the opportunities of the general category may be drastically reduced. With such a perception, the BJP has opened the doors to giving greater representation to these long-marginalized groups at the top political levels. This step of BJP seems to be proving to be a milestone for the fight of 2024.
A BJP leader told The Indian Express, “In the current system, one is political representation and the other is representation in government jobs. The upper castes will not worry about the former unless the latter (which directly affects their families) is prepared for their complete loss through caste census. Therefore, the upper castes are alienated from the Congress and are seeing the BJP as the only party which is not in favor of massive changes in the reservation system.”
He said, “Since the upper castes have now embraced the BJP, the party is fully committed to the opposition alliance and their caste census and caste alliance by giving greater participation of OBCs, SCs and STs in power.” Can finish. The upper caste class will like this strategy of BJP and they will have no objection to it. On the other hand, Congress will be defeated from both sides in this deal.
Three big signs of BJP
By choosing new faces in the selection of top leadership in three states, BJP has not only tried to woo the OBC-SC-ST category and blunt the caste alliance of other opposition parties including Congress, but has also tried to appoint new and young faces to the top post. Every effort has been made to accommodate new cadres of the party as well. Its biggest impact can be felt in states like UP and Bihar, where there are 120 Lok Sabha seats and the Indian alliance is also considered to be in a strong position.