Why parties are wooing Uttar Pradesh’s most backward sub-castes

LUCKNOW: For the first time, all major political parties in Uttar Pradesh seem to have woken up to the growing importance of the 76 sub-castes among the most backward castes (MBC). In many constituencies, the sub-castes play a key role in determining an election result. Backward castes constitute 51% of UP’s population.

The emergence of regional parties representing particular castes, and quota have empowered dominant castes among MBCs. However, lower castes are still deprived. The benefits of reservation in government jobs and educational institutions have not reached them.

The Social Justice Committee, set up by then chief minister Rajnath Singh in 2001, underlined that of the total 79 Most Backward castes, 75% of Class I jobs had gone to only the Yadavs and the Kurmis since Independence. This has helped the Yadavs and the Kurmis to get government jobs as well as a space in the political system.

Then, in 2016, CM Yogi Adityanath set up another panel to implement quota within quota for MBCs. In 2018, it found that barring the dominant castes, the majority were deprived of reservation benefits. The recommendations of the two committees were dumped, apparently under pressure from the dominant backward castes.

Now, some of those left out want their share in the pie, and this has forced all major parties to walk the extra mile.

For example, BJP has fielded four Nishads and an equal number of Maurya-Kushwahas. In UP, there are four cabinet and four junior ministers from MBCs. BJP had organised a series of backward caste conventions in Lucknow before election dates were announced.

Samajwadi Party has fielded three Nishads, one Bind and one Kushwaha. Also, BJP and SP are sparring over Nishad votes. The Nishads are dominant in the Doab region and six districts of east UP.

The Nishad-Mullahs work as boatmen, fishermen and divers. For their votes, SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav had given a ticket to bandit queen Phoolan Devi from Mirzapur twice, in 1996 and 1998. In the 2018 Gorakhpur by-elections, SP’s Pravin Nishad defeated the BJP candidate. Pravin’s father Sanjay Nishad heads Nishad Party.

However, Yogi recently got Nishad Party to switch from SP and fielded Pravin from Sant Kabir Nagar. Akhilesh retaliated by poaching two Nishad leaders from BJP.

Similarly, Rajbhars have come up prominently in the political landscape in the last decade. Under the banner of Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP), they have influence in nearly 15 Lok Sabha seats in east UP. SBSP played a major role in the BJP’s landslide in 2017. However, unhappy with the seat pact with BJP, SBSP chief Om Prakash Rajbhar quit NDA and fielded 39 candidates against BJP.

Other smaller castes have also consolidated. However, unlike the Lodhs having Kalyan Singh, the Yadavs Mulayam Singh and Kurmis Vinay Katiyar, the leadership crisis in most sub-castes is a cause of concern for the major parties. They feel they are dumped after elections as they don’t have strong leaders to bargain with major parties.