The RSS on Wednesday asked the saffron backward legislators to unleash a propaganda blitzkrieg to counter the charge that the BJP and Sangh Parivar were anti-dalit. Repeated attacks on dalits by saffron fringe elements and self-styled cow vigilantes have dealt a severe blow to the BJP’s efforts to woo the dalit vote-bank. While Uttar Pradesh has nearly 20 per cent of dalits, Punjab with 31 per cent has the highest concentration of dalits in the country.
Senior RSS leader, Dr Krisha Gopal, met more than 35 MPs and Central ministers, including Thavarchand Gehlot and Arjun Ram Meghwal, at the Gujarat Bhawan to work out a strategy to counter the Opposition’s move to project the BJP and the Sangh as anti-dalit.
The MPs and ministers have been asked to spread out across the country and connect with dalits to make them aware of Modi sarkar’s welfare programmes launched for the uplift of the community. The BJP legislators were also told to explain to dalits how caste-based parties, like the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party, have been using them to play vote bank politics.
Sensing dalit rage brewing across the country against the ruling BJP at the Centre, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had come out openly against the so-called “gau rakshaks”, saying that 80 per cent of them were “anti-socials”.
The RSS, which has also realised the importance of the dalit vote bank, has asked its swaymsevaks to step up their mass contact programmes among the dalits. What has also been worrying the BJP is the dalit rising in the Prime Minister’s home turf, Gujarat.
The electoral arithmetic has indicated that it was mainly the consolidation of dalit votes that helped the BJP score electoral victories. Reports indicate that the dalit vote share of the BJP had gone up from 12 per cent in 2009 to 24 per cent in 2014. Of the total 84 Lok Sabha seats reserved for SCs, the BJP bagged 40, including all 17 in UP.
While the BJP has been gaining, the Congress has been losing the dalit vote bank rapidly. Reports indicate that from 52 per cent in 1980, the Congress’ vote share among dalits had come down to 19 per cent in 2014. The so called “dalit queen” Mayawati was completely routed in UP during the 2014 Lok Sabha polls as even her core vote bank of the Jatavs had shifted to BJP.
However, following the violence unleashed by Hindutva hardliners, the BJP is now losing its grip on dalits. And at this juncture, it’s advantage Mayawati in UP.
