Presidential election In India : BJP’s strategy to go out anout for dalits

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Has the Opposition walked into the BJP trap by fielding former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar against Ram Nath Kovind? Their presidential candidate is a Jatav and the NDA’s a non-Jatav Dalit.

In the recent assembly polls in UP, the saffron party had gained immensely by drawing a wedge between non-Jatavs and the dominant Jatav sub-caste aligned with the Bahujan Samaj Party. The other OBCs and most backward communities were similarly mobilized against the Yadavs broadly committed to the Samajwadi Party.

The nuclear (caste) families emerging from these fragmentations and cross-bonded by Hindutva bolstered the BJP’s social base. The benefits of it were obvious in the party’s landslide victory.

By the same logic, Nitish Kumar’s JD (U) breaking ranks with the Opposition — citing Kovind’s stint as Bihar Governor for its support— is just a ruse. What’s guiding Kumar is his Mahadalit politics that has paid him rich electoral dividends in the State. He can ignore Meira’s ‘daughter of the soil’ claim without political damage as the Jatavs aren’t a dominant native identity.

What gave Kovind’s candidature an extra-edge in the BJP’s scheme was the Koli community’s substantial presence in Maharashtra and Gujarat. In addition to getting the recalcitrant Shiv Sena on board, his projection as the first Uttar Pradesh-born President effectively promotes the party’s socio-electoral goals in these states that are under its rule.