Vibha sharma
Tribune news service
New Delhi, October 2
As opposition parties escalate the offensive against Uttar Pradesh’s chief minister Adityanath, concerns about the ruling BJP in the Center are mounting. Prime Minister Adityanath may have promised strict action, but political observers believe that the Hathras incident has the potential to affect the prospects of the saffron party not only in Uttar Pradesh, but also in the upcoming elections in neighboring Bihar and also in elections to 56 crucial Assembly seats across the country, including Madhya. Pradesh.
“It is difficult to quantify the damage, but Hathras has exposed the flaws in Hindu consolidation that helped the BJP win more than 50 percent of the vote in various states in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Assemblies are contested over local issues But its consequences in other states cannot be ruled out, ”says political analyst Prof Sudhir Panwar from Lucknow University.
BJP sources say the leadership is “keeping a close eye” and the November election results may decide its future course of action, including in UP, where Chief Minister Adityanath is currently battling strong perceptions of being a ” pro-thakur / superior caste government. ”Although senior BJP leaders such as Ravi Shankar Prasad have accused Congress of“ double standards in incidents of rape and playing the caste card, etc. ”, observers point towards“ this support quite discreet ”to Adityanath from top leadership.
Caste is the main driver of polls in most states, including Bihar, where a smart combination of SC / ST votes and Upper Castes garnered a 53.3 percent share of the vote for the BJP-JD combination (U ) -LJP in the 2019 general elections. It is also a state where a statement by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on the issue of reserves turned the situation in favor of the BJP rivals in the 2015 Assembly elections This is reason enough for observers to believe that perceptions about “law and order and atrocities against Dalits in UP may run counter to the NDA alliance in Bihar.” It will be interesting to see what the LJP, a party that goes by the label of ‘dalits’, decides tomorrow regarding the alliance with the NDA.
In addition, a significant number of 56 voting seats (up to 28) are in Madhya Pradesh, mainly in the ‘sambhag’ of Chambal-Gwalior, where atrocities committed by the upper castes are considered the main reason for the rise of the ‘baaghis. ‘(dacoits) in the region. The era may be over, but if Harthras makes a dent, Shivraj’s chief minister, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, may find himself in trouble. Apart from 28 in MP, eight districts are in Gujarat, seven UP, two in Jharkhand, Nagaland, Karnataka, Manipur, Nagaland and Odisha and one in Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Haryana.
The result of the partial polls will be announced together with Bihar on November 10.
