Apart from intra-party political equations, there are definite political goals in the mind of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his strategy of installing Ram Nath Kovind in the Rashtrapati Bhavan. 1. To retain the dalit votes that rode in to the BJP on the Narendra Modi wave in the last Lok Sabha elections. 2. To counter allegations by the opposition that the BJP and the Sangh Parivar are anti-dalit. 3. To assuage the fear among the dalits, in the wake of the atrocities committed over cow protection.
Dalit leader Mayavati’s frantic resignation from the Rajya Sabha is an indication of the effects that Ram Nath Kovind’s entry has created in dalit politics.
Doing away with power centre
Narendra Modi's decision to play the dalit card was based on his plan that his power should not face any challenge from the Rashtrapati Bhavan. Had senior BJP leaders like L.K. Advani or Murali Manohar Joshi or Union Minister Sushama Swaraj become president, there would have been concerns of a power tussle between the prime minister and the president. But Ram Nath Kovind, who rose from the post of Bihar governor to that of the president of India, does not pose any such trouble.
To retain Uttar Pradesh
Ram Nath Kovind’s selection to the top-most post is also a recognition to Uttar Pradesh, the state which fetched the BJP a spectacular win in the last Lok Sabha and assembly elections. The first dalit President from the BJP’s power centre of North India is bound to find favour in the dalit sections.
The BJP is aware that Yogi Adityanath in Uttar Pradesh would not be able to create substantial favour for the party within the next two years ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. In UP, it is not easy to sustain support for the BJP, which was voted to power with much hope and anticipation, and to keep at bay the anti-government sentiments. Modi is trying to create the image that the people of UP are with the BJP.
The BJP has won dalits’ confidence in Bihar and Maharashtra by projecting Ramvilas Paswan and Ramdas Atavle, respectively, as NDA leaders. In the next stage of a similar experiment, the BJP sees Ram Nath Kovind as the trump card to win over the strong dalits vote-banks in states such as Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and West Bengal.
The BJP wants dalits and other weaker sections to be a contented lot when the Narendra Modi government’s achievements, during the five-year period, will be evaluated in 2019. Ram Nath Kovind is the party’s answer in case the Modi government’s sincerity on the issue of uplifting dalits is questioned.
