BJP woos dalits, ignores their leaders
Oct 04, 2011 - Amita Verma |
Age Corespondent
Lucknow
The Bharatiya Janata Party is now trying to make a conscious effort to
woo dalits and OBCs in Uttar Pradesh but the party does not have an
acceptable dalit and backward face to project and promote in the
coming Assembly elections.
The party, at a recent Dalit and OBC Sammelan in Lucknow, discounted
the efforts made by UP chief minister Mayawati for dalit upliftment
and promised to give dalits and OBCs the due credit if the BJP came to
power in UP.
The party made spirited efforts to project itself as a dalit and OBC
friendly party and cited its support to Mayawati as an example.
The BJP leaders delved into history, picked up dalit leaders like
Uppaiya, Banke Chamar, Uda Devi, Jhalkari Bai, Chetram Jatav and
Veeran Kori — all of whom had been ignored by the Mayawati government
— and promised to give them due credit.
"When the BJP is voted to power in UP, we will include the
contribution of these dalit and OBC leaders in the text books so that
our children can learn about the role and contribution of dalits and
OBCs in the country's freedom movement and development," promised
Rajnath Singh.
Ms Uma Bharti, in her speech, recalled how she had convinced her party
leaders to support Mayawati as chief minister in 2002. "After that,
Mayawati forgot me and also the dalits," she said.
Interestingly, the BJP in UP does not have any recognised dalit face
in the party that can address and win over dalit voters. Leaders like
Bangaru Laxman and Ramnath Kovid have faded into the background and so
has Ramapati Shastri — once known as the dalit face of the party.
Another senior dalit leader, Sangh Priya Gautam, has already left the
BJP.
Interestingly at the OBC Sammelan, last week, BJP's prominent OBC
leaders in UP like Vinay Katiyar, Om Prakash Singh and Premlata
Katiyar were conspicuous by their absence and it was left to Ms Uma
Bharti, again, to hold the torch at the function.
A senior backward leader, while talking on condition of anonymity,
said, "When it comes to major decision making in the party, it is the
upper caste leaders who call the shots. We are not showpieces meant to
be displayed during elections only. And it is because of this that we
kept away from the sammelan. The dalit leadership in the BJP has also
wilted due to the same reason."
------------------------------------
----
INFORMATION OVERLOAD?
Get all ZESTCaste mails sent out in a span of 24 hours in a single mail. Subscribe to the daily digest version by sending a blank mail to ZESTMedia-digest@yahoogroups.com, OR, if you have a Yahoo! Id, change your settings at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTMedia/join/
PARTICIPATE:-
On this list you can share caste news, discuss caste issues and network with like-minded anti-caste people from across India and the world. Just write to zestcaste@yahoogroups.com
TELL FRIENDS TO SIGN UP:-
If you got this mail as a forward, subscribe to ZESTCaste by sending a blank mail to ZESTCaste-subscribe@yahoogroups.com OR, if you have a Yahoo! ID, by visiting http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/join/
Also have a look at our sister list, ZESTMedia: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTMedia/Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
ZESTCaste-digest@yahoogroups.com
ZESTCaste-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
ZESTCaste-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
No comments:
Post a Comment