Reportedly in the lok sabha election, the downsizing of the bjp in states like Uttar Pradesh was largely attributed to the party’s failure to gauge the impact of a caste census war cry on Dalit votes. congress leader rahul Gandhi’s relentless harping of the issue paid off dividends. But five months down the lane, the bjp is using Congress’ lok sabha ‘Brahmastra’ against it in the haryana election in the final leg of the campaign.
Perhaps in his speeches in haryana during the election campaign, prime minister Narendra Modi did not directly address the specifics of conducting a caste census but rather focused on the broader implications of caste politics. Modi criticized the congress for allegedly promoting caste-based divisions in society. The bjp, which has for the last 10 years banked on a non-Jat alliance, knows that Congress’s main face in the state Bhupinder Hooda is a popular Jat leader who is out to consolidate Jat votes that make up 26 per cent of the haryana electorate. With the caste census buzz, this lok sabha election saw a significant shift in Dalit political preferences as the india bloc garnered 68 per cent Dalit votes. The bjp believes that a not-so-subtle mention of Congress’ Dalit leaning may create a rift in the Jat consolidation for the Congress.
PM Modi said “Congress’s politics is limited only to false promises, whereas BJP’s politics is based on hard work and results”. Furthermore while the bjp knows it is fighting a decade of anti-incumbency, Jat anger and disenchantment in haryana, it still hopes to put up a reasonably good fight by setting the narrative and splitting 47 per cent votes through it in the final leg of campaigning in the state.
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