Numerous Dalit MPs of the BJP have spoken out against their own party’s govt. But what are the real reasons behind the MPs’ ‘revolt’? ThePrint analyses.
New Delhi: In the last one week or so, five Dalit MPs from the BJP have spoken out against their own party’s government in the state, blaming it for ignoring Dalits. Savitri Bai Phule, the MP from Bahraich, even organised a rally in Lucknow and launched a veiled attack on the BJP government.
Three other Dalit MPs from UP – Chhote Lal Kharwar, Ashok Dohre and Dr Yashwant Singh – wrote to the Prime Minister, complaining about the atrocities on Dalits under the Yogi Adityanath government. Kharwar accused Yogi, a Thakur, of possessing an anti-Dalit mindset, while Singh wrote that nothing noteworthy has been done for Dalits in the four years of the Narendra Modi government at the Centre.
Then, a fifth Dalit MP, Dr Udit Raj from North West Delhi, also joined the chorus, alleging “torture” of Dalits by the administration in various states. He later clarified that his comments showed that there are people like him in the BJP who are concerned about atrocities, and that the community must stick with the party.
Dalits r tortured at large scale after 2ndApril country wide agitation . Peoplefrom badmer,jalore,jaipur,gwalior,meerut , bulandshahr,karoli &other parts calling that not only anti reservatists but police also beating &slapping false cases.
— Dr. Udit Raj, MP (@Dr_Uditraj) April 7, 2018
My tweets r misconstrued that its harming BJP rather it strengthens that at least there r people like me in BJP who r concerned with dalit atrocities after 2 April https://t.co/cVHCRojYJu will convince Dalits &they will remain with party. Govt will check ant-dalit officer/ people
— Dr. Udit Raj, MP (@Dr_Uditraj) April 8, 2018
But why is there sudden trouble in Modi and Amit Shah’s caste coalition in UP that swept the 2014 Lok Sabha elections and 2017 assembly polls? ThePrint analyses.
Colour draining from rainbow coalition
With little over one-fifth of the total population of Uttar Pradesh, Dalits are an important constituency for any party. In 2014, the BJP, traditionally seen as a party of upper castes, was able to make big inroads into the Dalit vote bank, surprising Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party, which has long been the torch-bearer for the community.
That shift in votes helped the BJP win all the 17 reserved seats in UP in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, and left the BSP with absolutely nothing in the Lok Sabha. The trend continued in the 2017 assembly elections, translating into the BJP and its allies winning 75 out of 85 reserved assembly constituencies in the state. But the tide seems to be turning now.
The defeats in the Lok Sabha bypolls in Gorakhpur and Phulpur were an indication – the moment Mayawati transferred her support base to the Samajwadi Party, the BJP lost two sure-bet seats, with calculations indicating that a lot of Dalits had jumped back to the BSP mothership. This has amplified murmuring voices within the BJP.
“There is certainly a sense of suspicion among Dalits against the BJP government,” says Badri Narayan, Dalit scholar and professor at Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University. “However, it may be too early to say that they will shift towards other parties.”
Atrocities against Dalits
Since Yogi Adityanath took over as chief minister 13 months ago, there have been several instances of violence between upper castes and Dalits at different places.
Shabbirpur village in Saharanpur witnessed one of the earliest prominent incidents in May 2017, where Thakurs attacked the Dalit neighbourhood and set fire to their houses, after Dalits objected to a Maharana Pratap Jayanti procession. The unrest continued for months.
“It was just confirmation that the BJP needed only Dalits’ votes, but that by design, it is an upper caste party,” says Vinay Ratan Singh, president of the Bhim Army in Saharanpur.
The Bhim Army, an organisation of Dalit youth, came under the spotlight during the Shabbirpur incident and its aftermath, with founder Chandrashekhar Azad ‘Ravan’ currently lodged in jail under the stringent National Security Act, after having been granted bail by the high court on other charges related to spreading unrest.
“Saharanpur is one of the many incidents that have taken place under this government,” says Vinay Ratan. “Ever since this government came to power, atrocities against Dalits have become a regular news item across the country.”
In October last year, a Dalit girl student was raped and killed in Shahjahanpur.
Also in October, an upper caste woman beat a pregnant Dalit woman to death in Bulandshahr, just because she touched her bucket. Three days later an FIR was registered. Even the post-mortem report said she died because of head injuries, but the police initially didn’t register a case, saying there was no injury.
In January this year, a 22-year-old Dalit man was brutally beaten up and forced to chant ‘Jai Mata Di’ in Muzaffarnagar. The video went viral and a number of protests took place in the aftermath of the incident.
Also in January, a loan recovery agent crushed a Dalit farmer to death under a tractor in Sitapur. People of the village protested strongly against the incident.
Then, in February, a Dalit student was beaten to death over a small dispute at a restaurant in Allahabad.
In the same month, a Dalit girl was burnt live in a market in Unnao in broad daylight. No one came forward to help her as she ran 100 metres before succumbing.
Chandra Bhan Prasad, noted Dalit ideologue, says: “The worrying part is that Dalits are finding it difficult to register their cases at the police stations. How can they expect justice if their cases are not registered?”
“It is true that a good number of Dalits voted for the BJP in 2017. But the upper castes took the BJP’s massive victory as a licence to launch atrocities against Dalits.”
Welfare versus dignity
Some Dalit BJP MPs from UP reject the claim that the community is being ill-treated under the party’s government.
“Those who are speaking have recently come to the party and are not aware of the BJP’s culture,” says Bhanu Pratap Singh Verma, the MP from Jalaun. “Be it the Ujjwala scheme or the Saubhagya scheme or the housing scheme, Dalits have been major beneficiaries of all these. And this has been done by the BJP government.”
The central and state governments are planning a number of celebrations to mark Dalit icon Dr B.R. Ambedkar’s birth anniversary on 14 April, but that doesn’t seem to be getting any traction.
Vinay Ratan criticises these celebrations. “You are wasting so much public money on celebrating Babasaheb’s birth anniversary. Instead you could put that money in opening study centres for Dalits and Muslims, and later, they will buy their own gas connections,” he says.
Prasad agrees, saying: “If you see the Dalit movement in the country, the fight is only for dignity. Dalits can’t and won’t trade dignity for anything else. You can’t give a gas connection on one hand and then put Chandrashekhar Azad of the Bhim Army behind bars under the National Security Act.”
Prasad adds that the outpouring of Dalits on 2 April was much more than a Bharat bandh caused by the Supreme Court tweaking a law. “It was an uprising of Dalits, who came on to the streets without a leader.”
Vinay Ratan says the Bhim Army is organising a protest against the atrocities on Dalits on 18 April on New Delhi’s Parliament Street. “We will demand the release of innocent Dalit boys who have been arrested by this government,” he says.
“If the Dalit MPs are truly concerned about the community, they should resign and join our protests on the streets.”
The new equation
It is this uprising that will have the BJP worried in terms of electoral calculus. The union of the SP and the BSP could well force party strategists to draw up new plans.
Take the example of the 17 reserved seats the BJP won in 2014. Even at the peak of the Modi wave, the SP and the BSP’s combined votes would’ve defeated the BJP in 10 of these seats, if the vote transfer between the parties was as total as it seems to have been in the Gorakhpur and Phulpur bypolls.
Sunil Yadav Sajan, spokesperson for the SP, says: “2014 was a different kind of election and it won’t be repeated. The fear in the BJP over an SP-BSP alliance is more than visible. These MPs will have many more joining them in the coming days. They know they will be wiped out.”
The BJP, on the other hand, dismisses this, calling it a desperate move by the two regional parties. “Mayawati became chief minister three times with the support of the BJP. How can they say we are anti-Dalit?” says Kaushal Kishor another Dalit BJP MP from Mohanlalganj.
“They are trying to misguide Dalits and backward communities, who are happy with the BJP.”
false promise never work for long
Winning the trust and support of the Dalit community, not a natural constituency of the BJP, would be a huge electoral achievement for the party. For that, it must walk the talk.