The western UP district of Saharanpur is known for its woodcraft products. But in May this year, the district was in the news for all wrong reasons. A caste clash erupted between thakurs and dalits of Shabbirpur village in the district, leaving one person dead and many others injured.
In Raebareli of eastern UP, around 700km from Saharanpur, three people were brutally murdered and two others burnt alive in June as a result of post-poll enmity between brahmins and yadavs. The incident took place soon after the Yogi government completed 100 days in office.
These were two of the prominent caste related clashes during Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's regime.
In the previous Samajwadi Party regime, the infamous Muzaffarnagar riots in 2013 had claimed more than 50 lives. The local police and administrative officials did not take seriously the initial eve-teasing incident in Kawal village which subsequently snowballed into a massive riot. The administration completely failed to understand the gravity of the situation, leading to one of the worst riots in the history of the state.
In the wake of the riot, the Akhilesh Yadav-led government was accused of adopting ‘a minority appeasement policy.’
During Akhilesh’s regime, around 500 caste and communal clashes had taken place in the state, of which as many as 100 were of serious nature.
These three major incidents of riots indicate that the state has been a hotbed of caste and communal clashes which have been fanned by political outfits.
Saharanpur has always been the stronghold of Mayawati. But in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls and 2017 assembly polls, the voters favoured the BJP. The BSP failed to win a single seat in the Lok Sabha polls in the assembly polls too, the party tasted defeat in all the seven constituencies in the district.
The BJP aimed at gaining the maximum backward votes in the assembly polls and had fielded as many as 126 OBC candidates. The party had also launched its election campaign from Saharanpur. The saffron party do not want the the dalits to drift away from them.
However, dalits in the area feel that their expectations are not being met by the Yogi government. They also feel that as the chief minister belongs to the upper caste, spirits of people belonging to the upper caste are up.
Mamta Shiva, head of Dalit Chetna Vikas Samiti, a social oragnisation working for the welfare of dalits of Saharanpur, said, “In villages like Shabbirpur, acute discrimination on caste line persists. Upper castes do not want that dalits to come on par with them and sit and dine with them. Dalits do not feel safe in present regime.”
It is an open secret that Bhim Army is getting covert support from the BSP for their fight against the upper castes.
Caste has always been part of Uttar Pradesh politics. The BSP gave dalits voice in the 1990s. Kanshi Ram and Mayawati had created and promoted a radical class of dalits who have been anti-upper caste and demanded self respect and dignity. After 2010, the BJP started widening it vote base and began wooing the OBCs and dalits. Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah, a strong non-brahmin–Hindu conglomeration was created to have 'Maha Hindu’ identity. This worked for the party as evidenced by the 2014 Lok Sabha and 2017 assembly polls.
Uttar Pradesh has always seen a mad rush by all the major political players to win various castes to cling to power. While the BSP tries to woo dalits and Muslims, the SP goes for M-Y(Muslim-Yadav) combination. This time (2017 polls) the BJP changed its strategy—it completely ignored Muslims and went on to vigorously woo OBC and dalits.
There are two types of dalits emerging in the state—one group that is backing the BJP and another favouring the BSP. This trend has created fissures among dalits and the group now do not vote en bloc for any particular party.
