- BJP will counter opposition’s caste card with Hindutva
- OBC castes actively participate in aggressive Hindutva of Sangh Parivar
Milind Muzumdar, Indore
Ramlala’s statue is being consecrated in Ayodhya on 22 January. The preparations taking place in Ayodhya and the changes there are getting headlines in the media. The Ram temple being built in Ayodhya has gradually become a major election issue of the Lok Sabha. BJP is setting the election agenda of Lok Sabha through this.
Nitish Kumar has recently announced to run a campaign across the country regarding caste based census as soon as he becomes the national president. Before this, Congress while announcing the new Yatra of Rahul Gandhi said that caste based census is going to be the main issue of Congress. BJP is going to counter the caste card of opposition parties with Hindutva. This was indicated by Vishwa Hindu Parishad working president Alok Kumar in Ayodhya on Sunday. He said that the issue of Sanatan will gradually reduce the feeling of casteism in the country. As soon as Ramlala is seated in the newly constructed grand temple of Ayodhya, the atmosphere of Sanatan in the country will become more intense. Obviously BJP and Sangh Parivar are working on the strategy of neutralizing the caste card through Hindutva. BJP is not only playing the Hindutva card, it is also doing social engineering in a better way in coming to power in its states. The Nitish Kumar led government of Bihar has thrown a stone into the beehive by releasing the caste census data. Obviously the opposition India alliance is considering the caste census as a Brahmastra against the Modi government. Due to this step of the Bihar government, the OBC vote bank has come into limelight. OBCs, tribals and Dalits together constitute about 78 percent of the voters in the country. Congress has more influence among the tribals than BJP. Whereas Dalit voters are divided in half. BJP gets one-sided support from OBC class. Congress is playing the caste census card to get the OBC class on its side. During the last one year, Rahul Gandhi gave maximum emphasis on this issue in each of his meetings. Rahul Gandhi feels that by talking about caste census, he can bring Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP on the back foot. Congress and opposition are giving utmost importance to this issue but it is not so easy to grab the support of OBC category from BJP. The most important thing is that the OBC vote bank cannot be won over by making statements against Hindutva and Sanatan.
Sangh Parivar doing social engineering
OBC castes have the largest share in the Hindutva movement that has been going on across the country for the last 95 years under the leadership of the Sangh Parivar. Lodhi, Kurmi, Jat, Mallah, Kushwaha, Gurjar, Bishnoi, Barber, Badhai, Luhar, Goldsmith, Dhobi Rajak, Dhangar, Pal Gadaria, Dhakad, Mali, Banjare, Kirar, Teli Ghanchi are such castes which have been adopting intense Hindutva. These castes are the main vote bank of BJP. The Yadav Ahir community is with Akhilesh Yadav and Lalu Yadav at the state level but at the national level, it also supports Hindutva. 80 percent of the communities that took part in the Ayodhya movement were from these castes. These castes are a big vote bank of BJP. Due to the Hindutva of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Sangh Parivar, it will be very difficult for the opposition alliance to get even 30 percent support of the OBC category. In Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, BJP has played the Extremely Backward Caste card which is called EBC card. They have also benefited from this. In Maharashtra too, BJP has done social engineering by playing the EBC card. Congress understood the importance of the OBC category when it reached zero in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Following the line of Bala Saheb Deoras, Bhaurao Deoras and Dattopant Thengadi, Sangh Parivar had started social engineering five decades ago. The result is that today OBC castes are united under the umbrella of Hindutva. OBC castes cannot be drawn towards us by abusing Sanatan and Hindutva. As far as Hindutva is concerned, Congress can never gain credibility on this issue with the Sangh Parivar in power. BJP is not just resorting to Hindutva to woo the OBC class. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government is continuously implementing such schemes which benefit the extremely backward and backward classes.
