BSP stresses on Brahmin-Dalit unity to put up ‘Unified Front’

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) national general secretary Satish Mishra on Friday exhorted Brahmins to consolidate and ally with the Dalits to put up a “unified front” to win the 2022 assembly polls. Mishra also visited the Ram Janmbhoomi temple and the Hanumangarhi temple, before going for an aarti by the Saryu river. He reminded people of the work done by the BSP in the religiously significant towns of Vrindavan, Varanasi, Ayodhya and others.

Rajya Sabha MP and the party’s Brahmin face, Mishra, flagged off BSP’s poll campaign by holding a convention for Brahmins. Such conventions will be held in five other districts until July 29. This is part of the party’s attempt to fall back on its 2007 winning formula where it went for a greater Brahmin representation, which, coupled with the anti-SP sentiment at the time, helped the party win the polls.

Mishra exhorted Brahmins, who form 13% of the population, to “come together”. To form the government, Brahmins must “forge brotherhood” with the Dalits who constitute 23% of the population.

“If you form a brotherhood with Dalits, you become a formidable force,” he said. He said Brahmin ministers had no voice in the BJP. “In the BJP, ministers from the Brahmin community are either kept for picking up jhola (bags), or as a show piece or they are made to promptly grab a mike to defend the government when it comes under attacks (from opposition) for harassing the community,” he said.

He slammed the BJP for using Lord Ram as a “political tool”. It was the Supreme Court verdict that cleared the way for the Ayodhya temple to be made, not the BJP, he said. He said it had been a year since the Bhoomi Pujan of the Ram temple but not even the foundation was ready. He said that the BSP will get the construction done if it comes to power in 2022.

Mishra has lined up a 90-day schedule, that is till October 15, to tour the state. During the next phase, he will visit Mathura and Vrindavan. He will visit Varanasi and Kashi Vishwanath temple in the third phase, followed by Chitrakoot, Jhansi and the Bundelkhand area and then the Buddha circuit districts of Shravasti, Gorakhpur.

In recent times, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav and Congress general secretary (UP in-charge) Priyanka Gandhi too have publicised their visits to religious places. A former senior BSP leader said that using religion for politics was against Bhimrao Ambedkar’s ideals. Neither Mayawati nor Kanshiram had resorted to it.