Kiren Rijiju leads Dalit outreach in Maharashtra

In meetings, Rijiju emphasises how Prime Minister Narendra Modi is taking the Buddhist message across the world

New Delhi: Last week, union minority affairs minister Kiren Rijiju began a series of meetings in Maharashtra. His first stop was Nashik where he attended the anniversary of the Bodhi Tree Grand ceremony, celebrating Buddha’s teachings along with state minister Chhagan Bhujbal. He then visited the Daulatabad Fort in Aurangabad which is linked to the legacy of Dalit leader and the founding father of the constitution BR Ambedkar and then to the Ambedkar Smarak in Mumbai where he interacted with Buddhist monks. In the meetings, Rijiju emphasised how Prime Minister Narendra Modi was taking the Buddhist message across the world. “At the United Nations, Modiji said that India gave Buddha to the world, not yudh (war),” he said in Mumbai.

Kiren Rijiju leads Dalit outreach in Maharashtra

The four-day trip was carefully curated by the Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) with the objective of reaching Mahar or Dalit voters who comprise 5.57% of the total electorate in the state. Rijiju’s link to the Mahars is that many of them are Dalit Buddhists.

“The objective is very simple,’’ said Ashish Shelar, the president of the party in Mumbai, “He belongs to the Bodh samaj and his presence will increase voter awareness and turnout.’’ HT learns that at least 28 top BJP leaders from other states are in Maharashtra or heading there soon to campaign , reaching out to their respective communities in a state where the electoral stakes are high. For instance, Shambhuprasad Tundiya, a former Rajya Sabha member from Gujarat who is believed to be a voice in the Dalit community has been drafted to speak to Dalits in Maharashtra.

Unlike Haryana, where the BJP registered a surprise win earlier this month, Maharashtra is different, for it is a battle between alliances. Marathas are the dominant caste at approximately 19.86% but the other backward class (OBC) vote is fragmented across various groups such as the Kumbis (14.5%), Malis (7%) Vanjaris (6%) and Dhangars (5%). Other OBC groups make up 11.83% of the electorate which takes the total OBC population to 44%. It’s not a coincidence that BJP’s main strategist in the state is OBC leader and Union minister Bhupendra Yadav. One of the first things that he did as soon as he came to Mumbai last month, was to hold a meeting with representatives of all the sub-groups, asking them to reach out to their respective communities with BJP’s message.

With the opposition championing the Maratha cause, the BJP is hoping for a non-Maratha consolidation like there was a non-Jat consolidation in Haryana. “It will happen. We don’t even need to plan for it,’’ said Shelar. However, the party wants to make sure that all these sub-groups are represented by major faces. So the Vanjaris have the Munde sisters while Bhujbal represents the Malis. And since the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) counts the Muslims (11.5%), the Marathas (20%), Dalits (12.79%) and Tribals (6.53% ) in traditional vote bank , campaigners have been brought in to eat into these votes. For instance, the BJP is likely to tout its move in Haryana to legislate a sub-quota within the Dalit quota, something it has said it will do in Maharashtra too.

“It won’t work,’’ said Congress MP Varsha Gaikwad, when asked about BJP’s outreach to the Dalit community. “The people of Maharashtra know that there is no scholarship for students, all foreign funding has stopped. There is no minister for social justice department and the chief minister had no time for this department. This won’t work.”