New Delhi: Last week, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan announced a new Brahmin Welfare Board to look after the interests of the community in the state. Coming on Parashuram Jayanti and with an assembly election due this year, the decision is being seen as the ruling BJP’s counter to the Congress’s Dharm Samvad as well as its pujari prakoshth or priest cell.
The priest cell itself, created last year, was part of the Congress’s strategy to counter the BJP’s allegation that it engaged in appeasement of religious minorities, party leaders had told ThePrint. The Dharm Samvad, held at the state Congress headquarters in Bhopal on 2 April, was another effort by the party to address the “grievances” of priests, according to Congress leaders.
However, Chouhan hasn’t stopped at Brahmins. Earlier this month, the government announced four more boards for Other Backward Class (OBC) communities — Vishwakarma, Swarnkala, Rajak, and Telghani — who, according to media reports quoting statistics department estimates, form about 1 crore of the population. These comprise 42 lakh people from the Vishwakarma community, 35 lakh Rajaks, 18 lakh Telghanis and 5.8 lakh members of the Swarnkala community.
These welfare boards are just the current ones. Chouhan has constituted several such boards in his previous tenures as well.
Speaking about the Brahmin Welfare Board while in Bhopal on 23 April, Chouhan mentioned several measures taken by the state government for the welfare of the pandit/purohit community. He also announced the development of Janapav, believed to be the birthplace of Parashuram — an incarnation of Hindu god Vishnu — and an increment in the salary of priests to Rs 5,000 from Rs 3,500.
Temple priests, he further said, will have the power to auction temple land instead of the district collector.
Chouhan added that the life of Parashuram was included in the Class 8 syllabus of state government schools and 3,547 Sanskrit teachers had been recruited in the recent past.
According to media reports, Brahmins, though not more than 5 per cent of the voters, hold sway in 30 out of 230 assembly seats in the Vindhya and Gwalior-Chambal region.
“In the last assembly elections (2018), Brahmin resentment became an issue but this time, the chief minister has catered to even the common devotee by giving the control of temple land to its priest,” a state BJP leader said to ThePrint.
A BJP vice-president in the state unit told ThePrint, “In 2018, Kamal Nath had connected with the smaller castes who, in return, voted for the Congress (the party fared better on SC/OBC seats). This time, the BJP doesn’t want to take any chances by leaving any caste out…”
Explaining the rationale behind several separate boards or commissions, BJP’s state head of the OBC Morcha, Narayan Kushwah, told ThePrint over the phone: “The basic premise of creating separate commissions is that they can consider the interest of the respective caste and send their suggestion to the government for its welfare. Welfare policies for the respective communities can be implemented by these commissions.”
Also read: Modi tells BJP MPs to be ‘ready for a fight’: ‘More we win, the harsher the Opposition’s attacks’
Boards galore
In the past month, Chouhan has formed four boards, each catering to a community – Vishwakarma, Telghani, Swarnkala, and Rajak. These boards come under the state technical education department and are meant to train and provide employment to the youth of their respective communities.
Vishwakarmas traditionally engage in making iron and wood products. The Union Budget this year includes a special scheme — the Prime Minister Vishwakarma Kaushal Samman — for the welfare of this community. Leaders of the community met Kamal Nath on 16 March and the Congress also announced a Vishwakarma prakoshth soon after.
Members of the Rajak samaj, or blacksmith community, which is included in the OBC category in Madhya Pradesh, are seeking inclusion in the SC category. Some had announced that they would gherao the CM on 10 April but Chouhan announced the board before that.
For the Telghani community, apart from the board, the CM has announced that their pilgrimage places in Mandsaur and Nawagarh will be redeveloped. He also invited a delegation of the community to discuss their demands, according to a statement by the government’s public relations department.
For the Soni or Swarnkala community, the CM announced late last month an honorarium of Rs 8,000 per month. According to a government statement, the CM also announced an idol of the community’s Aradhyadev Maharaj Ajmidhdevji in Bhopal.
Fate of earlier boards
The state already has a board for the general category — the Madhya Pradesh Rajya Samanya Varg Kalyan Aayog, earlier called Samanya Nirdhan Varg Kalyan Aayog.
While these four boards have come ahead of state elections, many earlier boards have existed without a chairperson or funding. The Mati Kala board for the Kumhar or potter community, or the Kesh Kala board for the Nai or barber community, announced during Chouhan’s earlier tenures, do not have chairpersons.
The Mati Kala board came up in 2008 when Chouhan was the CM. It had Ashok Prajapati as its chairperson but once he completed his tenure in 2018, there was no replacement for him till this year, in January, when the government appointed former MLA R.D. Prajapati as its chairperson. The board lacks a budget or a building.
Board chairperson R.D. Prajapati told ThePrint over the phone, “We don’t have any building or budget but I have requested the government for the latter. I have requested the CM to provide us land also to make our own building so that we can run a scheme for their development. Prajapatis are 65 lakh in numbers in the state and they have very limited means of livelihood.”
In 2013, right before the assembly election that year, then incumbent CM Chouhan created the Kesh Shilpi board and Nand Kishore Verma was made its chairperson. Verma was again made the chairperson ahead of the 2018 polls but his tenure was for only six months. As of now, the board has no chairperson, nor any building to operate from.
Former chairperson Verma told ThePrint over the phone, “I have reminded the CM quite a few times to appoint a chairperson and constitute the board but that hasn’t been done till date. The board has no budget and no building.”
Meanwhile, Chouhan has accorded the status of cabinet minister to chairpersons of 12 such boards and minister of state status to four vice-chairpersons, according to media reports.
(Edited by Smriti Sinha)
Also read: ‘Hindu hate, love jihad, nepotism’ — in Indore college, Muslim profs face hostility from ABVP