New Delhi: The social engineering was evident when the BJP appointed the three chief ministers of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh after its heartland sweep in December 2023.
Rajasthan CM Bhajan Lal Sharma is a Brahmin or from the general category, the backbone of the BJP votebank since the days of the Jana Sangh, while Chhattisgarh CM Vishnu Deo Sai is a tribal, and Madhya Pradesh CM Mohan Yadav, an OBC.
However, an analysis of the governments formed in the three states shows the power dynamic is still skewed in the favour of the general category and OBCs, some of which wield significant power locally.
The Dalits and tribals, meanwhile, netted fewer cabinet berths, with seemingly less powerful portfolios.
Thirty-three of the 48 cabinet ministers in the three states are from the general (13) and OBC groups (20). Ten among the remaining 15 are from the Scheduled Tribes (STs), while five are from the Scheduled Castes (SCs).
In Madhya Pradesh, eight of 21 cabinet ministers are OBCs, while seven are from the general category. Four are STs, and two SCs.
In Rajasthan, six of the 15 cabinet ministers are OBCs, while four are from the general category. Three are STs, and two SCs.
Hop over to Chhattisgarh, and OBCs form 50 percent of the 12-member cabinet. There are two general-category cabinet ministers, besides three STs and one SC.
Among the six deputy chief ministers in the three states, four belong to the general category or OBCs, and two are SCs.
Rajendra Shukla of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgargh’s Vijay Sharma are Brahmins, while Diya Kumari of Rajasthan is a Rajput. Arun Sao of Chhattisgarh is an OBC.
Madhya Pradesh Deputy CM Jagdish Devda and Rajasthan’s Prem Chand Bairwa are SCs.
This trend holds true for all the BJP-led states across India, which altogether have 11 deputy chief ministers. Nine of these are from the general category (six) and OBCs (three), while two are SCs.
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The plum portfolios
In the elections last year, the BJP won 55 of 78 SC-reserved seats in the three states, and 53 of 101 ST-reserved ones.
Even so, the upper castes and OBCs seem to hold most of the plum portfolios.
Home — the most sought-after portfolio after chief ministership — is with the CMs in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. In Chhattisgarh, it is with Deputy CM Vijay Sharma.
Finance, another prime portfolio, is held by an SC in MP (Jagdish Devda), an OBC in Chhattisgarh (O.P. Choudhary) and an upper caste in Rajasthan (Diya Kumari).
As far as PWD is concerned, Diya Kumari holds it in Rajasthan, Sao in Chhattisgarh, and former parliamentarian Rakesh Singh, an OBC, in Madhya Pradesh.
Health is with Gajendra Khimsar, a Rajput, in Rajasthan, Deputy CM Rajendra Shukla in Madhya Pradesh, and Shyam Bihari Jaiswal, an OBC, in Chhattisgarh.
Energy is with Pradhuman Singh Tomar, a Rajput, in MP, and CM Sai in Chhattisgarh, where the portfolio is especially significant owing to the state’s coal blocks. In Rajasthan, energy is not a cabinet berth, and is handled by Hira Lal Nagar (OBC), an MoS with independent charge.
Another plum department, revenue, is with OBCs in MP and Chhattisgarh — Karan Singh Verma and Tank Ram Verma, respectively — while ST Hemant Meena holds it in Rajasthan.
Among the general-category cabinet ministers in Madhya Pradesh, Rajendra Shukla also handles medical education, while Kailash Vijayvargiya, the BJP’s national general secretary and a Vaishya by caste, has urban development, housing and parliamentary affairs.
Rajput Govind Singh Rajput handles food and supplies, while Vishwas Sarang, a Kayastha, handles sports, youth and cooperatives. Brahmins Rajesh Shukla and Chetanya Kashyap hold renewable energy and micro small and medium enterprises, respectively.
Among OBCs, while Rakesh Singh, who has also served as state BJP chief, handles PWD, former Union minister Prahlad Patel has panchayat and rural development.
Uday Pratap has transport and school education, while Karan Singh Verma oversees the revenue department.
In Rajasthan, Diya Kumari, an erstwhile royal, has three portfolios apart from finance and PWD: Tourism, women and child, and the art and culture department.
Gajendra Khimsar has medical and health services (ESI) apart from medical education and health. Fellow Rajput and former Union minister and Olympian Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, a retired Army officer, has five portfolios: Industry and commerce, IT and telecommunications, sports and youth affairs, skill development, and sainik kalyan (soldier welfare).
Among the OBC ministers, only two have significant portfolios: Suresh Rawat, who has water resources, and Sumit Godward of food supply and consumer affairs. Avinash Gehlot has social justice, Kanhaiya Lal Choudhary has public health engineering and groundwater, Jogaram Patel has parliamentary affairs and law, and Joraram Kumawat has animal husbandry and dev sthanam.
In Chhattisgarh, most cabinet portfolios rest with four ministers — two from the general category and as many OBCs.
Deputy CM Vijay Sharma has four portfolios, including home, and so does Sao, who rose from state president to deputy chief minister. The latter’s portfolios include city development, apart from PWD.
Brijmohan Agrawal of the general category has school education apart from five other portfolios, while O.P. Choudhary, an OBC who joined the BJP after resigning as district collector, has five.
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What Dalits & tribals handle
There are 10 ST ministers and five SC ministers in the three governments analysed for this report.
While ST Hemant Meena holds revenue and Sai is CM, two of the deputy chief ministers are SCs, with one of them (Devda) holding finance. The other SC deputy CM, Bairwa of Rajasthan, has higher education and technical education, among two other portfolios.
In MP, SC Tulsi Silawat handles water resources. Among tribals, Vijay Shah handles tribal affairs, Nirmala Bhuria has women and child department, Nagar Singh Chouhan has forest and environment, while Sampatiya Uikey has public health engineering.
In Rajasthan, Deputy CM Bairwa handles four portfolios, including transport and yoga, while fellow SC Madan Dilawar has school education and panchayat raj.
Among tribals, Kirorilal Meena, a veteran politician, has agriculture and rural development, while Babu Lal Khardi has tribal development.
In Chhattisgarh, the two ST ministers apart from the CM are Kedar Kashyap, who holds forest and water resources, while Ram Vichar Netam, a veteran leader, handles agriculture development and farmers welfare. SC Dayaldas Baghel handles food supplies and consumer protection.
‘No ministry less important’
Reached for comment, two of the tribal ministers — Kirorilal Meena and Babulal Khardi — denied the community had got a raw deal in government formation.
Meena denied he had a “less important portfolio”, and said, “Rural development is an important ministry and I will change the perception of people through my work.” However, he added that one doesn’t get “more than destiny and fate”.
Khardi said ministry allocation was the chief minister’s prerogative. “We have to show with our work that no ministry is small or big,” he added. “All have the same goal — to fulfil the aspirations of their people.”
A Madhya Pradesh cabinet minister, speaking on the condition of anonymity, agreed, but added that “tribal and Dalit MLAs are generally considered for ministries handling social justice, tribal affairs, fisheries, animal husbandry or cottage industries”.
“But things are changing now,” the minister added. “In Madhya Pradesh, a Dalit, Jagdish Devda, has been made finance minister, while in Rajasthan, another Dalit, Bhirwa, has been made deputy chief minister.”
Political analyst Badri Narayan said “it takes time in the social order for other backward communities to reach a level to share the power structure and assert their dominance”.
“Although the OBC community has climbed up the ladder of power-sharing in the last two decades, non-dominant backward castes still lack their share,” he added.
(Edited by Sunanda Ranjan)
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