Saffron party out to lure Dalits to counter SP’s PDA pitch

LUCKNOW The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is on a mission to connect with Dalit youths and intellectuals, who play a major role in moulding the community’s thought process on important issues and also influence the voting pattern. It has come up with ‘Samajik Nyay’ seminars to counter the Samajwadi Party’s PDA (Pichhda, Dalit and Alpsankhyak) pitch.

The idea of connecting with Dalit intellectuals and youths through these workshops is the brain child of Dharampal Singh, state general secretary (organisation) of the BJP. The first such seminar was organised in Lucknow on February 21, in which Dalit lecturers, professors and youths took part.

The seminar at Bhagidari Bhawan in Gomti Nagar was attended by lecturers from degree colleges, professors and UPSC aspirants from the Dalit community. Asim Arun, social welfare and SC/ST welfare minister in the state government, apprised the gathering about various initiatives of the BJP for the welfare of Dalits. Dharampal Singh tried to dispel all misconceptions among Dalits about the BJP and RSS being anti-reservation.

He apprised the gathering on how the BJP and RSS were working together in the interest of Dalits.

During the 2024 Lok Sabha poll campaign, the Congress was successful to a large extent in driving home the point among Dalits that if the BJP returned to power, it would revoke reservation.

BJP leader Neeraj Singh, entrusted with the responsibility of organising the seminars, stressed on the need for regular follow-ups of such events.

“Our Dalit outreach programmes will not be confined to just seminars and workshops. After each seminar, we will make sure there is regular follow-up every two-three months with those who attended the event,” he said.

“A regular event like this to connect with Dalits was much needed after the BJP’s poor show in LS polls in UP. It was primarily due to shifting of the Dalit and OBC votes that the party’s tally in the state came down to 33 in 2024 from 62 in 2019,” said a senior BJP leader.

With an aim to give more representation to OBCs in the party structure, the BJP has appointed OBCs and Dalits on more than half of the 1918 posts of mandal adhyaksh across the state. All these appointments were through mutual consent.

According to the state BJP leadership, the party will replicate the same formula in appointments of district presidents.

According to BJP insiders, a Dalit or an OBC is likely to replace the existing state president of the party Bhupendra Chaudhary who belongs to the Jat community.

“From mandal adhyaksh to state president of the party, BJP wants to project Dalits and OBCs as the party’s face. This strategy is part of the BJP’s social engineering formula within the party,” said a senior BJP leader.

“The BJP wants to bring back Dalits and OBCs back into the party fold who deviated to the SP in the 2024 LS polls in the state,” he added.

In four successive poll victories in UP - 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha and 2017, 2022 assembly polls - the BJP managed the most diverse representation, minus Muslims, by keeping its caste umbrella intact– broadly non-Jatav Dalits, non-Yadav OBCs and upper castes.

However, its formidable caste formulation was shattered in the 2024 LS polls in the state.

The SP’s Pichhda, Dalit and Alpsankhyak (PDA) formula succeeded in bringing a large chunk of OBC and Dalits into its fold, giving a formidable blow to the BJP. In the 2024 LS polls, the SP emerged as the single-largest party in UP and the third-largest nationally, primarily due to its PDA pitch.

It posted its best-ever performance in UP by winning 37 seats, surpassing its previous best performance in 2004 (35 seats). The BJP was not able to cross the majority mark of 272 seats in 2024 LS polls and got stuck at 240 seats.