BJP to step up OBC – Dalit outreach, to host district-level meets

According to party insiders, there are 28 districts in the State where non-Jat and non-Yadav communities exceed 30 per cent of the electorate and that is likely to be its focus area. Additionally, party has identified 121 strongest constituencies and 103 in which the party has to put in maximum efforts.

Home minister Amit Shah, along with union minister Dharmendra Pradhan during their multiple visits to the state, have been working on finalising the party’s three-phased plan of reaching out to the non-Jatav, non-Yadav voters. While state leaders were asked to present feedback in at least six different meetings planned with Shah, the party is expected to execute “actionable moves” in the coming days, as the state-level outreach events have come to an end.

While the Jatavs, predominant among Dalits, are known to vote for the BSP, it is the approximately 11.1 per cent non-Jatav votes that the BJP is keen to consolidate in its kitty. The Jats, another important community among OBCs, has a large presence in western UP and although they had overwhelmingly supported the BJP in the past two elections, the growing presence of the RLD has been of concern to the party, particularly in at least nine districts in western UP that it swept in 2017 but where it lost significant votes in 2019.

Among the 80 districts of the states, two – Rampur and Moradabad – are known to have the presence of more than 50 per cent Muslims while at least 28 districts, including Prayagraj, Auraiya, Bahraich, Chandauli, Gonda, Kheri, Pratapgarh, Raebareli, Sant Kabir Nagar, Sonbhadra and Siddharth Nagar have 30-40 per cent non-Jat, non-Yadav voters.

The party’s focus is also on the 13 districts that have around 27 per cent of the two communities, and at least 19 which have around 23 per cent of them. As regard to non-Jatav voters, apart from Sonbhadra, which has more than 30 per cent such voters, there are at least five districts that have around 25 per cent non-Jatav communities and 10 which have about 17 per cent such voters. The party will also have a constituency-specific plan for each of the 15 districts that have a Muslim population of more than 30 per cent, said those in the know.

“The recent schemes launched by the PM, be it housing or healthcare, are targeting this group that has a specific economic identity that the BJP wants to represent and address . Even in the state and central cabinet, there has been a push to have more presence of people from OBC and Dalit backgrounds,” said a party functionary, who did not wish to be identified.

It comes even as SP leader Akhilesh Yadav has been urging Dalits and OBCs to rally behind him, saying only the ideologies of Ram Manohar Lohia and B.R. Ambedkar can fulfil the dream of India and ensure equality.

According to the BJP’s state leaders, a specific meeting was planned with home minister Amit Shah during his last visit to the state to address feedback from district presidents and select leaders to tackle issues such as price rise of essentials and fuel, and ways in which the Centre can assuage the voters. The home minister is expected to finalise which central ministers will get involved in the UP campaign – West Bengal had nine ministers working for three months in different areas of the state – and also who will be part of the most essential committees such as manifesto, finance and Election Commission.

A senior BJP functionary said the focus is now to refine the strategy of caste outreach. “We have been having state-level OBC sammelans and SC sammelans, but if we have to reach out to the Pasis, Kumhars, Kaharas, Sonars and others we will also have to have a more nuanced strategy, different from 2017,” the functionary said on condition of anonymity. “In the past one month alone, CM Yogi Adityanath has addressed meetings of 31 OBC groups, while BJP president Swatantra Dev Singh has presided over 21 OBC groups and nine SC groups. Apart from that, reaching out to farmers, who are spread from Ghazipur to Ghaziabad and have different concerns, will be a priority.”

All six morchas of the party have also now been told to hold district level events, identify beneficiaries of government schemes and run localised campaigns celebrating the Covid-19 vaccination drive.

The functionary said that while law and order and electricity are being projected as the best achievements of the Modi-Adityanath combine, a “fool-proof plan” is being worked out to ensure at least three actionable moves by the party for each target community to ensure their support. “Many of the backward and SC communities are small in many areas and will require a localised strategy which the party wants to embark on at least three months before the polls. Our manifesto will also reflect their aspirations. In all the district level events we plan to showcase our leadership from gram pradhans, mayors, MLAs and block presidents, among others, from the community we are addressing,” he said.