BJP activates morchas in UP to woo voters of different communities

On Sunday, over a span of five hours, chief minister Yogi Adityanath addressed two meetings in Ayodhya and Varanasi. In Ayodhya, there was a state executive meeting of BJP’s state OBC Morcha. The meeting was attended by BJP workers of the OBC Morcha across the state. While addressing the meeting, Adityanath said various sections falling under the OBC wing were not mere castes, but frontal warriors protecting the Hindu religion. Speaking in Ayodhya on the concluding day of the OBC state executive meeting, Adityanath also made references to how historical personalities such as Raja Suheldev, revered by the Rajbhar community, led fights against foreign invaders but were not given their due by historians and earlier governments alike. Apart from Suheldev, he also mentioned Nishadraj and said his government is making a grand memorial for him in Shringverpur.

Adityanath’s 40-minute-speech spelled out the BJP’s OBC strategy— to unite the most dominant voting bloc in the state (among which the Yadavs are a loyal voter base of the Samajwadi Party) under a larger umbrella of religious nationalism, which also explains choosing Ayodhya as the place for the meeting. Functionaries of both the state as well as national OBC morchas came to Ayodhya to discuss the roadmap for BJP’s OBC outreach.

In Varanasi, the two-day national executive meeting of the BJP SC morcha ended with an address by Yogi on Sunday. The meeting was addressed by BJP national president JP Nadda on Saturday. “UP has more than 20 per cent Dalit votes and they have supported BJP in large numbers,” CT Ravi, BJP general secretary, who was in Varanasi to address the meeting told ET. “Under the leadership of PM Modi, unlike other parties, the BJP government has given representation and ‘Samman’ to people from SC community. Whether it is building houses, or giving gas cylinders or free ration, SC and poor are at the core of BJP’s governance policy.”