Opinion | Battle for Bundelkhand: How BJP, Congress are trying to woo Dalit votes ahead of MP polls
The fight for the Dalit vote in MP has become more or less a straight one between the BJP and Congress.
Less than two weeks after Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for a temple-cum-memorial dedicated to medieval poet and social reformer Sant Ravidas near Sagar, All India Congress Committee (AICC) president Mallikarjun Kharge is set to address a rally in the Madhya Pradesh town, in what is clearly a battle for the Scheduled Caste vote in the poll-bound state.
Sagar is a gateway to the backward Bundelkhand region, which has a substantial Dalit population. Migration for jobs, lack of water, unemployment, lack of educational facilities, and lack of industrialisation are among the perennial issues that are highlighted in every election. But what usually matters is the candidate’s caste in this feudal belt.
Though it’s known that Kharge, a Dalit from Karnataka, does not like his caste identity being highlighted, he is perhaps the grand old party’s most suitable candidate as it attempts to neutralise the initiative taken by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party: first, announcing the Rs 100-crore complex in February, and then getting the prime minister to lay the foundation stone six months later, well ahead of the elections.
Before the PM laid the foundation stone, the BJP organised five samarasta (harmony) yatras that passed through 46 of the 52 districts in the state over 18 days. The rallies carried earth and a fistful of grain from each of the 55,000 villages, along with water from numerous rivers and reservoirs to be used in the construction of the grand memorial. The poet-saint has a huge following in some other states too.
The Kharge way
When the BJP’s plan to invite the PM became clear, Kharge wanted to arrive in Sagar a few days before him. His visit, however, did not materialise. A couple of weeks before the PM’s event, Kharge highlighted the alleged atrocities on the Scheduled Castes in MP, arguing that Dalits, tribal communities, and other backward classes (OBCs) were being insulted in the BJP-ruled state.
MP reports a very high incidence of alleged atrocities on Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe folks, including in the feudal pockets of Bundelkhand, according to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). Kharge alleged that the BJP was crushing BR Ambedkar’s dream of social justice and called the ruling party’s “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas” slogan an empty slogan and a PR stunt.
Unlike his last visit to MP, when he sought votes as a candidate for the AICC president’s post, Kharge’s proposed visit on August 22 comes from a position of strength. Incidentally, names of two veteran Congress leaders from the state — former CMs Kamal Nath and Digvijaya Singh — were briefly in circulation for the top party job for a variety of reasons before Kharge and Shashi Tharoor were left in the fray. Both leaders are expected to be present when Kharge addresses his first-ever rally in MP after getting elected to the top post.
After the Congress party’s spectacular victory in Karnataka and his conduct in subsequent months, many political commentators have opined that Kharge has a mind of his own. “He belongs to the same community, so his words will carry more weight. Moreover, he is the national president,” said a Congress leader of Kharge’s visit.
The Dalit vote
Given that the BJP has ruled the Centre and the state for a long time now, there is little for the Congress to showcase. The Congress government headed by Kamal Nath lasted for just 15 months, not long enough to play the benefactor. Kharge will have no option but to take recourse to NCRB data to highlight the alleged atrocities on the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
The fight for the Dalit vote in MP has become more or less a straight one between the BJP and Congress. The Bahujan Samaj Party used to be a relatively significant player in the state but its footprint has shrunk with every election. The Uttar Pradesh-based party once had 11 MLAs in the undivided MP but its tally in the current Assembly is two.
The BSP was expected to do well in the Gwalior-Chambal region which saw caste tensions ahead of the 2018 elections but it won only a single seat. The region saw protests over the alleged dilution of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act in a Supreme Court ruling. The government later neutralised the legal order by amending the act. Some BSP candidates got more than 10,000 votes but it didn’t count much.
Mission Bundelkhand
Bundelkhand was once part of the kingdoms like the Bundelas and Chandelas. The traditional Bundelkhand area comprised seven districts in UP and six in MP. Now and then, an odd voice demands a separate Bundelkhand comprising these 13 districts. The BJP, however, is against the idea. Some scholars argue that the districts in MP are relatively more developed than the districts in UP. The famous Khajuraho temple complex is located in the Chhatarpur district of MP and is known to attract tourists from all over the world. The Ken-Betwa Link Project which seeks to irrigate drought-prone areas of UP and MP will be a talking point in the elections.
Of the 26 Assembly constituencies in Bundelkhand — traditionally comprising the Sagar, Damoh, Chhatarpur, Panna, Datia, and Tikamgarh districts — the BJP has 17 seats. Despite these numbers, however, the saffron party is worried. In the first list of 39 candidates announced by the party for the upcoming elections, Banda, Maharajpur, Chhatarpur, Patharia, and Ginnor belong to the Bundelkhand region. In the BJP’s scheme of things, the first list contains constituencies where the party is either weak or very weak. The party wants to give more time to candidates to improve their chances.