Ayodhya: In an attempt to woo the Brahmin population of Uttar Pradesh ahead of the upcoming 2022 assembly polls, the Bahujan Samaj Party organised a ‘Brahmin conclave’ in Ayodhya Friday.
This was part of the BSP’s much-hyped ‘Brahmin outreach’ drive that Mayawati had announced last week.
The event, organised on the outskirts of the Faizabad district, was attended by over a thousand people including BSP workers, Brahmin intellectuals and representatives of the ‘Brahmin Samaj’ despite the district administration permitting only 50 people for the event due to Covid protocols.
At the conclave, Satish Mishra, BSP general secretary and the Brahmin face of the party, announced that the first thing the party will do after getting elected is speed up the construction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya.
While attacking the BJP for the delay in construction, Mishra said: “Ek saal se mandir nahin ban paaye hain. Kab banega mandir? Kitne saal lagenge? (The temple has not been completed in the past year. When will it be made? How many years will it take?)”
He added: “If we are elected, we will pressurise them (the Centre) to build the temple and use all the crores of funds that they have collected in the name of donations.”
In a speech that lasted about an hour and a half, the BSP leader cited ‘Shri Ram’ at least a dozen times and also said the BJP is not the “sole custodian of Lord Ram”.
“Kya Ayodhya par aapki thekedari hai? Kya Shri Ram par aapki thekedari hai? Shri Ram sabke hain (Do you have sole custody of Ayodhya? Of Shri Ram? Shri Ram belongs to everyone),” Mishra said.
With echoes of ‘Jai Shri Ram’ and the Ram temple taking centre stage, the event set the course for the party’s Brahmin outreach agenda in the upcoming polls. Brahmins constitute approximately 13 per cent of the population in UP.
The party will be holding similar programmes in four other districts of the state — Mathura-Vrindavan, Benaras-Kashi Vishwanath, Chitrakoot and Shravasti.
“At all places, we will go among the people by worshipping our god,” said Mishra.
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‘We are descendants of Parashuram’
While Mayawati had announced that the outreach drive will be called ‘Brahmin Sammelan’, the event itself was organised under the banner of ‘Prabudh Varg Vichar Goshti’. The reason for the change in name is unclear.
Before coming to the event, Mishra visited the Hanuman Garhi temple, the Ram Mandir site and the Sarayu river bank.
He was accompanied by other BSP leaders including Nakul Dubey, former UP urban development minister, Pawan Pandey, former MLA from Akbarpur, and senior leader Karunakar Pandey.
At the event, he was greeted by saffron-clad sages, shankhnaad (blowing of conch shell) and Vedic mantras.
In his speech, Mishra called out the ‘marginalisation’ of the Brahmin community and also cited the mythological figures of Sudama and Parashuram.
“They want to treat us as Sudamas but we have to prove that we are not Sudamas but we are the descendants of Parashuram,” he said.
While both Sudamas and Parashuram represent the Brahmin community in the Hindu scriptures, Sudama was believed to be an impoverished villager and Parashuram an incarnation of Lord Vishnu and known for his aggressiveness.
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‘Time to uplift Brahmins’
Mishra also targeted the Yogi Adityanath-led government for the “killing of Brahmins in encounters”, without taking any names.
“They have marked Brahmins and Dalits. We are 13 per cent of the population but since we are not united and we vote in divided numbers, we are pushed to be a marginalised community. The time has come to uplift the Brahmins,” Mishra said.
He cited BSP chief Mayawati’s “respect” towards Brahmins and said: “Behenji has always given respect to the Brahmins. About 15-16 MLCs, six MPs from the Brahmin community and the first Brahmin DGP, first principal secretary law, legislative council member along with 22 Brahmin lawyers were appointed and she has kept me as Rajya Sabha MP for the last 17 years.”
Mishra also spoke about Khushi Dubey, wife of slain gangster Vikas Dubey’s nephew Amar Dubey, who is lodged in the Barabamki jail. She has been charged with criminal conspiracy in connection to the killing of eight policemen, allegedly by the gangster, in Bikru last year.
“BSP made up its mind to fight a legal battle to get bail for the widow of Amar Dubey, nephew of Vikas Dubey,” he noted.
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