On the morning of September 30, as the nation’s attention turned to the trial in the case of demolition of the 28-year-old Babri mosque, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s attention turned to another issue at hand: the gang rape and murder of a 19 year old dalit girl in Hathras of Uttar Pradesh.
The mounting protests from Delhi to Hathras and Lucknow, and in response to them, a highly callous approach by the police and the UP administration, likely forced the prime minister to step in and call in the chief minister, Yogi Adityanath. After the phone call, Adityanath stepped forward to put out the flames of anger. He first ordered an SIT investigation into the case and then spoke with the family of the deceased girl.
The government also increased the amount of compensation to 25 lakh from the initially sanctioned 10 lakh and promised a government job and a house for the family. The family may have come forward to express their faith in the prime minister after these announcements, but the temperament on the ground, especially among Dalits, continues to rise. And the main reason for anger is the administration’s decision to hastily cremate the body, denying the victim’s family the opportunity to exercise the last rights according to their traditions.
In the midst of all this, the big question that remains is: why was the Prime Minister forced to intervene in the matter? Is the Hathras incident just another example of bad law and order in the state and proof of the rise in crimes against women, or does it have a larger political dimension?
Has the BJP’s top brass been left a bit concerned about a possible breach in their Dalit vote bank and the laborious consolidation of Hindutva? After recent reports of growing Brahmin discontent under Yogi rule in Uttar Pradesh, can the Hathras incident mark the dangerous drift of the Dalits, or at least a portion of them, from the BJP? The answer lies in the complex caste realities of India’s most populous and politically important state.
Caste Dynamics, Valmikis in West UP
With 403 Vidhan Sabha seats and 80 Lok Sabha constituencies, Uttar Pradesh has a sizeable Dalit population. The state has also been the cradle of caste-based identity politics. From the resurgence of the Dalits to backward caste politics, all have found a strong rally in the UP.
Experts believe that Dalits make up about 22 percent of the total population. In addition, they are divided into several subcastes, the most important being the Jatavs, Pasis, Sonkars, Dhobi, Koieri and Valmikis. Valmikis, in particular, dominates the demographics in West UP.
From Gaziabad to Saharanpur, Merrut, Muzzafarnagar, Bagpat, Aligarh, Hathras to Amroha and Moradabad, Valmikis has a considerable presence in 25 districts of the region. Politically speaking, while the Jatavs have been a strong pillar of support for the BSP, Valmikis, like Pasis in Central UP and the Awadh region, had drifted towards the BJP over the last decade. From the 2014 general election to the 2017 assembly election and then into 2019, Valmikis in western UP had been strongly sided with the BJP.
This long association with the BJP is now under threat following the Hathras rape and murder case, in which the victim belonged to the Valmiki community. First, the rape by the defendants who come from the upper-caste Thakur community and then the alleged attempt by the police to protect them, followed by the insensitive move by the administration to cremate the body at midnight in flagrant violation of the tradition of the community, have come together to become a major problem. political challenge for the saffron party.
Is Congress Profit BJP Losses?
For the Congress, which has been constantly trying to build a base and strengthen its party in Uttar Pradesh, the Hathras incident was a great occasion to intervene. The newfound organizational strength was reflected in the strong protests launched by the party from Delhi to Hathras and in every district of the state.
Leaders from the SC / ST front of Congress were continuously seen along with the family of the rape victim. Pradeep Narwal, the AICC in charge of the SC-ST wing of the UP Congress, denies having introduced politics into the matter. It says: “As a political party, it is our responsibility to raise the issues of the people. The Yogi government has been dealing with vendetta against the poor and marginalized. The people have decided to teach BJP a lesson in the 2022 assembly elections. “
Congressional leaders may deny, but they surely hope to reach out to the Dalits, especially the Valmikis, who had been with the party until the mid-1980s, before switching to the BSP and then the BJP. Trying to regain lost ground in UP, Congress has been trying to build a base between the Dalits and the Brahmin upper caste for a long time. Party leaders believe that if a portion of the Dalits and Brahmins could return to the party fold, the minorities would also back down, giving it a strong vote base in the state.
Occasional Mayawati attack, party missing in action
Despite the fact that Hathras continued to witness strong protests for more than 48 hours and Congress appeared to have taken advantage, the BSP, the party that emerged from a Dalit resurgence, seemed to take a back seat. While the Bheem Congressional and Army workers appeared on the roads from Delhi to Uttar Pradesh, the BSP was neither in the protests nor in the agitation.
The Mayawati party chief, whose distress over the incident was limited to a couple of tweets, over the two weeks, from the day of the gang rape to the girl’s death on September 29, gave a strong response via a media reaction on October 1. Launching a scathing attack on Yogi Adityanath, he said: “Yogi has failed to maintain law and order. He should resign or else the BJP should remove him from the CM position and send him back to the Gorakhpur Math. “
There were twin concerns behind Mayawati’s belated reply. One, on a possible foray by the Congress party into the Dalit vote bank, and second, countering the growing perception that the BSP is soft on the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh. It is unclear how successful Maywati will be in her purpose. The reality that her vote base had been seriously compromised in recent years.
For the government that had been fighting allegations of caste-based discrimination, especially against Brahmins, the gang rape of Hathras and her handling by the police had further complicated the situation. It remains to be seen how the top brass of the BJP and RSS will act to save the situation.
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