BJP steps up outreach to OBCs, Dalits with eye on Lok Sabha polls

OBC leader Om Prakash Rajbhar's entry into the BJP's camp underscores the ruling party's assiduous efforts to bolster its presence among disadvantaged castes in the Hindi heartland at a time when the Opposition has seized on a host of issues, including OBC census, to corner it in the run-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

With the main opposition party Congress joining several regional parties to push for caste census as part of wider efforts to increase the OBC reservation and project the BJP as inimical to their interests, the ruling party has been making sharp counter-moves.

The central government has so far maintained a studied silence on the demand for a census of Other Backward Classes, who are the largest voting bloc and have shown in polling booths an increasing preference for the ruling party under Prime Minister Narendra Modi since 2014.

Also read | Om Prakash Rajbhar, ex-ally of Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party, joins NDA in Uttar Pradesh

A host of leaders representing smaller parties and identified mostly with a particular backward or Dalit caste have gravitated, mostly from the Opposition, to the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance in recent months as the ruling party bolsters a flank where it has appeared to be vulnerable at times.

In Uttar Pradesh, which has been a BJP stronghold since 2014, Rajbhar joins OBC leaders like Sanjay Nishad, who enjoys influence among boatmen and fishermen communities, and Union minister Anupriya Patel of Apna Dal (Soneylal), a party with support mostly among backward Kurmis.

While Nishad had aligned his 'Nishad' party with the BJP ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Patel has been a BJP ally since 2014.

In neighbouring Bihar, Kushwaha leader Upendra Kushwaha and former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, whose Manjhi community is part of Dalits, have left the RJD-JD(U)-Congress-Left alliance.

Manjhi has already joined the NDA while Kushwaha has also had several meetings with senior BJP leaders. The BJP is also making determined efforts to bring Chirag Paswan, whose Lok Janshakti Party (R) enjoys the support of Paswans, the most numerous Dalit community in Bihar, back into its camp.

While the BJP has been a surpassingly dominant political force in UP since Modi led the party to its maiden Lok Sabha majority in 2024, the Samajwadi Party managed to dent it in the 'poorvanchal' region by aligning with the likes of Rajbhar and a rival faction of Apna Dal in the 2022 assembly polls.

Some OBC leaders from the BJP, including Dara Singh Chauhan, had defected to the SP to boost its outreach to non-Yadav backwards and Chauhan's decision to quit as an MLA and likely return to his former party marks yet another setback to the disjointed Opposition in the crucial state.

The SP-RLD alliance in the western UP had succeeded to some extent in dividing the Jat votes in 2022 and the speculation about the BJP wooing Rashtriya Lok Dal leader Jayant Singh to its fold underscores the party's seriousness in hitting the target of winning all 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state.

The BJP had won 62 seats in 2019 while its ally Apna Dal won two. In Bihar, the opposition alliance is seen as more formidable than in Uttar Pradesh.

However, BJP leaders are of the view that by getting leaders of smaller parties linked to various backward and Dalit castes to their side, they can present the NDA as an umbrella alliance more socially representative than their two main rivals, Lalu Prasad Yadav-led RJD and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar-led JD(U).

The same opposition alliance had handed over a drubbing to the BJP-led bloc in the 2015 assembly polls.

While Yadavs, the most populous and dominant backward caste, have been a strong supporter of the SP in UP and the RJD in Bihar, especially in assembly polls, the BJP has succeeded - by weaving together dozens of smaller backward castes - in capturing a large OBC vote bank, especially in Uttar Pradesh.

Political experts are of the view that enthused by the Congress win in Karnataka, where OBC leader Siddharamaiah has taken over as chief minister, the main opposition party and its allies will amp up their campaign among the disadvantaged classes on the back of demand for caste census and promise of heightened welfare measures.

With the BJP determined to maintain and further expand its footprints among these communities, the ruling party is expected to intensify its outreach to them as the campaign for the national elections heats up.

The BJP has put in place a nationwide campaign in its bid to win a majority in the 543-member Lok Sabha under Modi for a third time.