The BJP national president Amit Shah has directed party cadres to focus on Yadav-Jatav votes, along with other smaller caste groups, and thus handed the workers an agenda for the 2019 general elections. Yadavs have been traditional voters for the SP (Samajwadi Party), while Jatavs have been a natural ally of the BSP (Bahujan Samaj Party).
During his three-day tour of Lucknow, Shah held a series of meetings with party cadres and asked them to make a dent in the SP and BSP votes. To show that there is no gap between theory and practice, Amit Shah, along with other senior ministers of the Yogi government, dined with Sonu Yadav, a booth level worker of his party. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath was also present.
The move was meant to convey the message that the BJP ‘cares’ for its ‘smallest’ worker.
Shah exhorted his workers to reply to any allegations of playing the caste card that, "it was not casteism, but the party’s effort to ensure that the backwards and downtrodden communities had a respectable position in the society. The BJP is striving hard to make them a part in the fight for changing the existing social order. This move is in the general interest of the society. ”
Shah’s main motive is to disturb the catse equations of the BSP and the SP.
He warned the party cadres that the upcoming municipal elections in the state will be a litmus test for the party and the efforts of the party should reflect in how many castes get aligned with the party.
In party’s election management meeting, Amit Shah took this issue further. He said besides Yadavs and Jatavs, there were many small castes who voted according to the ‘flow of the wind’. The party needs to win them.
He clearly told the part cadres to focus on these castes for the next three months and go down to booth level in every nook and corner of the state.
The BJP has been trying all possible tactics to come out with a good performance in Uttar Pradesh, be it the municipal elections or general polls. Besides focusing on various castes, it has openly welcomed leaders from other political parties.
The day Amit Shah landed in Lucknow, Bukkal Nawab and Yashwant Singh from the SP and BSP, MLC Jaiveer Singh from the BSP, resigned from the council and later joined the BJP. The deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya persuaded them to join the party.
The BJP tried this experiment in UP assembly polls too, taking leaders openly from other political parties.
The BSP, however, said that UP was not benefitted in any way even when the central and the state both were being ruled by the BJP. She said deteriorating law and order situation has led to a ‘jungle raj’ in the state.
