By: Dheeraj Upadhyay
Lucknow: With the formation of Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh, the BJP is now eyeing 2024 General elections. To increase their vote share in the state which has maximum 80 Lok Sabha seats; BJP is trying to woo Dalit voters after garnering a major chunk of non-Jatav Dalit votes. Dalits are in BJP’s top agenda in view of the 2024 elections. To attract them towards the party, BJP has decided to organize a large-scale program on the occasion of Ambedkar Jayanti on 14th April in many districts of the state.
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After the instructions of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, plans are being made to organize programs in many cities including Lucknow, Bareilly, Agra, Varanasi and Gorakhpur. Many big programs will be organized by the Culture Department on the occasion of Baba Saheb’s birth anniversary. Its preparations have been started by the Department of Culture and tourism. A program was scheduled on the eve of Ambedkar Jayanti in Lucknow in Ambedkar University as well.
Anyway, the results of the UP elections have convinced the party about Dalit voter’s affiliation to BJP. Perhaps this is the reason that BJP wants to leave no stone unturned to mobilize the Dalit voters in its camp, its effect are clearly visible in the Yogi cabinet composition too.
Looking at the Dalit representation in the Yogi government, this time a total of 67 Dalit MLAs have reached in the Vidhan Sabha from BJP, while a total of 8 Dalit faces have also been included in the Yogi cabinet. Leading from the front is Cabinet minister Baby Rani Maurya the ex-Gov of Uttarakhand, Ex Cop-Aseem Arun, MoS, Anoop Valmiki, Min Gulab Devi along with MoS Suresh Rahi, Vijay Lakshmi, Mannu Kori and Dinesh Khatik of Hastinapur.
But now after the formation of the government, BJP wants to give a big message on Ambedkar Jayanti to the Dalit voters,that BJP is with them and their programmes and policies are inclusive. There is no discrimination with anyone in their welfare schemes whether its free PDS ration or PM Awas Yojna.
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BJP has been successful in increasing their vote share from 40 percent in 2017 to 41.3% in 2022 by adding both Jatav and Non-Jatav votes from BSP; even after the anti-incumbency and strong mobilization of small caste based parties in SP alliance.