Congress full steam into caste games, Maya unperturbed

The race is for caste votes in Uttar Pradesh. Forget all that talk about corruption, development and schools. These are unimportant sub-plots in the core narrative from the perspective of parties. Since the Mandalisation of the state began 20 years ago, issues of development have gradually receded to the margins of mainstream politics in the state and the the politics of empowerment has take over. It’s debatable whether it has changed lives but what is certain is that no party is keen on reversing the trend.

With this backdrop, the urgency in the Congress to delve into caste politics becomes interesting. For long unenthusiastic, it has realised it can no longer exist in the state without tapping into the highly stratified society for votes and by harping only on subjects neutral of caste and communal identity. The urgency reflects in the party’s manifesto.

It has promised to consider a sub-quota for the worse off among Dalits under the quota for the Scheduled Caste and a sub-quota for the economically most backward classes. It has also promised that a quarter of the procurement by the state government would be from enterprises owned by the members of the Scheduled Caste, the Scheduled Tribe and minorities. It makes provision for interest-free loans for any girl student of these communities.

In another move targeted at the ST/SCs and the minorities, the Union cabinet has approved a policy which makes procurement of a certain percentage of goods produced by members of these groups mandatory for central ministries and state-run firms. The manifesto promises to pursue the case of political representation of lower caste communities in all representative institutions, starting from the gram panchayat level.

Promises in the manifestos are observed more in violation but the intent of the Congress is clear. It wants to get into hardcore caste games and challenge the equations nurtured carefully by the Mayawati-led BSP. The BSP, continues to bank heavily on its solid Dalit vote bank although the rainbow coalition of 2007, involving Dalits, Muslims, Brahmins and Kurmis, is in tatters now. With the Congress busy wooing the latter three and the most backward among Dalits, the BSP’s poll prospect appears in some danger.

However, Mayawati betrayed no such fears today when she stepped out for her election rally at Sitapur. There were minor signs of unease though. The Congress is trying to divide and rule by introducing sub-quotas, she said, adding this would stoke intra-caste tension. Possibly, this what the Congress exactly wants. It wants to exploit the fractures within castes to its advantage and neutralise the BSP. But the party despite its best efforts is not expected to make a big dent in Mayawati’s vote bank.

The BSP chief was suitably unperturbed. She spent most of her one-hour speech in trashing the opposition’s allegations against her and blaming the Congress-led UPA at the Centre for Uttar Pradesh’s troubles.

“The Congress has ruled the state for the longest period but it has done not much. Unemployment and poverty spiralled under the 40 years of Congress rule. People were forced to migrate to other states because of this,” she said. It was clear tin her speech that she did not think too much about the Congress’ efforts to destabilise and break her vote bank.