New Delhi: After vilifying the community in successive political campaigns in order to polarise other backward castes, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is now reaching out to the Yadavs in Uttar Pradesh in the 2024 Lok Sabha election in the hope of a larger Hindu consolidation. The saffron party is using Hindutva, propaganda over threats to OBC reservation and dynasticism to dilute its anti-Yadav rhetoric.
The BJP’s softening stand towards Yadavs, who are estimated to be around 9-10% of the state’s population, seems to be a reaction to the main Opposition Samajwadi Party’s increased outreach among the non-Yadav OBCs this election. With the SP matching the BJP in declaring a large number of candidates from among the backward castes this time, the saffron party has made attempts to break the SP’s stranglehold among Yadavs. As reported by The Wire, the SP has this time fielded a large number of candidates from the Kurmi, Maurya and Kushwaha communities, while reducing the share of Yadavs and Muslims.
Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty
In the 62 seats that the SP is contesting as part of the INDIA bloc, the party has fielded only five Yadav candidates, all of them from the Yadav family of SP’s founder the late Mulayam Singh Yadav. In contrast, in 2019, when the SP contested 37 seats as part of a Mahagathbandhan, the party had nominated nine Yadavs. In 2014, when the SP was in power in the state, the figure was much higher, 12.
The drop in Yadav candidates was a signal by the Akhilesh Yadav-led party that it was tackling the BJP’s incessant propaganda about it being a ‘Yadavvadi’ party by giving more space to other OBCs. Over the years, the perception that the SP’s core voters belong to the Muslim and Yadav communities, along with the notion these people misuse state power to dominate other groups when the SP is in power, hurt the party electorally. The BJP propagated the fear of Yadavs, equating them with goondaism and ruffianism, to grab the support of other backward caste communities, including those who competed with Yadavs for political space.
However, this time, in its bid to cement Hindu unity and OBC unity, the BJP has latched on to the fact that the SP has fielded Yadavs only from its family and ignored other Yadavs. From Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Union home minister Amit Shah, UP deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya and Madhya Pradesh chief minister Mohan Yadav, several senior BJP leaders have made overt appeals to the Yadavs in the last few days.
The SP’s five Yadav candidates are Akhilesh Yadav (Kannauj), his wife Dimple Yadav (Mainpuri), cousins Dharmendra Yadav (Azamgarh), Akshay Yadav (Firozabad) and Aditya Yadav (Budaun).
Also read: Not the BJP, but the Opposition Has Fielded More OBCs and Dalits in UP This Time
In a recent rally in Mainpuri, the Yadav family’s bastion, Amit Shah questioned the SP chief Akhilesh Yadav’s treatment of non-family Yadavs in ticket distribution. He accused the Yadav family of only promoting their own. “The SP says ‘We are well-wishers of Yadavs’. I have come to ask Akhilesh ji, don’t you find any other Yadav? You find them only in your family? What kind of Yadav prem (love for Yadavs) is this,” Shah asked while campaigning against Dimple Yadav.
Seeking votes for the BJP’s candidate Jaiveer Singh, Shah said, “Time has come to end the parivarvadi party in Mainpuri.”
The SP has won the Mainpuri seat in the last seven Lok Sabha elections and three by-polls. Mulayam Singh won in 1996, 2004, 2014 and 2019. His daughter-in-law Dimple was elected MP in 2022 in a by-poll after Mulayam died aged 82.
In another rally in Etah, which also has a decent population of Yadavs, Shah joked that if Akhilesh Yadav’s family had any more members above the age of 25, the legal age to contest LS elections, the SP would have fielded family members on all seats in UP.
“I understand that you are doing jativad. But even in the jati, you see only your caste,” said Shah. In the last few elections in Etah, the SP candidate has been a Yadav. This time it is from the Shakya caste, also an OBC community. The sitting MP and BJP candidate from Etah is also an OBC (Lodh), Rajveer Singh, the son of former UP CM Kalyan Singh.
An outreach programme for Yadavs organised by the BJP in February. In the frame is BJP MLC Subhash Yaduvansh, who is being promoted as a youth Yadav leader. Photo: Special arrangement.
BJP’s attempts to divide OBC quota
Like in 2019, this time too, the BJP has fielded only one Yadav candidate in UP – Dinesh Lal Yadav aka Nirahua in Azamgarh. The Bhojpuri star-turned-politician defeated the SP’s Dharmendra Yadav in a by-poll in 2022. Adityanath’s ministry also has only one Yadav minister. The BJP’s campaign against Yadavs has been quite explicit with the party accusing the community of cornering most of the 27% OBC as well as power positions due to patronage provided by the SP.
Different BJP governments have attempted to divide the OBC quota in the state to reduce the share of the Yadavs. In 2018, the Adityanath government even formed a commission to divide the OBC quota. The commission submitted its report to the government proposing to divide the 27% quota into three parts – pichda varg (backward class), who would get 7%; ati pichda (more backward), who would get 11%; and the atyant pichda (most backward), who would get 9% of the reservation. UP has 79 OBC castes.
However, the BJP put the report in cold storage as it became politically impractical to implement its findings. By clubbing Yadavs with other dominant and politically alert castes Kurmi, Jat and Gurjar, the BJP missed the opportunity to isolate Yadavs, like Rajnath Singh had tried to do during his CM tenure in the early 2000s. Over time, the BJP has developed a successful strategy of uniting non-Yadav OBCs on the anti-Yadav plank. “Sau mein saat hamara, 40 mein batwara hain aur batware mein bhi hamara hain (60 out of 100 is ours. The remaining 40 is divided. But even in that 40 we have a share).”
Also read: What Might the Congress-Samajwadi Party Alliance Achieve in Uttar Pradesh?
This equation, popularised by BJP leaders in the state, refers to the party’s game of dividing and polarising communities. The “60” refers to the population of UP excluding Jatavs, Yadavs and Muslims, who together are 40% of the population. The BJP’s formula also says that although its primary voters belong to the upper castes, non-Yadav OBC and non-Jatav Dalit Hindu groups, the party was also able to dent the support base of the SP (Yadavs) and BSP (Jatavs).
The strategic neglect of the Yadavs in candidate selection, however, has not prevented the BJP from reaching out to the community in constituencies where they have a substantial vote. In Jaunpur, where the SP has traditionally fielded Yadavs, the party has placed its bet on Babu Singh Kushwaha, a senior Kushwaha leader. Kushwahas and Mauryas are OBCs traditionally linked with horticulture.
Trying to pit the Yadavs against the SP in Jaunpur, deputy CM Maurya in a rally dismissed Akhilesh Yadav’s PDA – Pichda Dalit Alpsankhyak – strategy as Parivar Development Authority.
“You have betrayed the country, the state and also your voters and supporters,” Maurya said, targeting Akhilesh. “If I may ask SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, are Yadavs only in your family? Five people are contesting from your family. You have not given a ticket to any other Yadav in UP,” said Maurya.
In his address, Maurya flaunted how the BJP had appointed a local Yadav MLA Girish Chandra Yadav a minister in the Yogi Adityanath government and picked an ordinary worker and MLA Mohan Yadav for the top post of CM in MP. “A BJP worker, be it from any caste or community, can rise from the post of a booth-level head to even become the national president (of the party),” said Maurya.
The BJP is also resorting to Hindutva and propagating its distortions of the Congress manifesto to unify OBCs, including Yadavs, to hurt the SP.
In Agra, while falsely accusing the Congress of stealing quotas from OBCs and giving them to Muslims, Narendra Modi said that while Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav were speaking about OBCs in their public rallies, “from the backdoor, they are strengthening their vote bank and giving rights to them.”
Modi, who often accuses his opponents of casteism, listed a number of OBC castes, Kurmi, Maurya, Kushwaha, Jat, Gurjar, Yadav, Rajbhar, Teli and Gaderia, and charged the SP with betrayal. “For its vote bank, SP is committing the biggest betrayal against Yadavs and other OBCs,” said Modi.
On April 19, in another rally in Amroha, Modi evoked the connection of Yadavs with Lord Krishna to play up his Hindutva card.
Modi targeted the Yadav leaders of the SP and the Rashtriya Janata Dal of Bihar – Akhilesh Yadav and Lalu Yadav’s family – for allying with the Congress, whom he accused of insulting a person – Modi himself – who went under water in the sea and offered prayers at the submerged ‘ancient’ city of Dwarka linked to Lord Krishna by Hindus.
“Those people who beat their drum by calling themselves Yaduvanshis, I want to ask them. Those in Bihar who claim to be Yaduvanshi and those leaders in UP who step out to reap benefits (malai khane) of [their] Yaduvanshi [background], I want to ask them, if you are true Yaduvanshis, how can you sit together with a party that has insulted a person who worshipped Bhagwan Dwarika? How can you reach an understanding with them?”
In the build-up to the 2024 election, the BJP ran a campaign – ‘Yadav Modiji ke Saath’ – to woo the community. In March, the BJP even roped in its Yadav chief minister in MP Mohan Yadav to address the Yadav Mahakumbh outreach programme in Lucknow.
On April 29, Mohan Yadav was back in UP, this time to accompany one of Modi’s most favoured ministers Smriti Irani on her way to file her nomination in Amethi. Mohan Yadav has a personal connection with Amethi. His wife hails from Sultanpur, from which Amethi was carved out in 2010.
“I have heard that there is a big population of Yaduvanshis (Yadavs) here. I want to tell all Yaduvanshis that you are blessed…5,000 years ago, Lord Krishna had sacrificed his entire life for dharma. He fought for dharma all his life. Today, that time has come before us again,” said Mohan Yadav addressing a road show.
The MP CM also referred to the ongoing battle in Mathura where right-wing petitioners want Muslims to hand over the Shahi Eidgah Mosque to the Shri Krishna Janmasthan Temple. “I have an ache in my heart. When our Ram ji has been pleased, what wrong has our Krishna Kanhaiya committed? Even he should smile. Lord Krishna will also smile.”
The import of Mohan Yadav’s statement is that the BJP hopes that the Hindu side will also win the legal battle in Mathura and take over the Mughal-era Mosque just like it did in Ayodhya.
Yadavs are an important voting segment in parts of east UP, central UP and the Braj belt. However, in some constituencies, they play a big role in deciding the winner or loser. In 2014, all five seats won by the SP in UP were seats held by the Yadav family. In 2019, the SP again won only five seats – this time two out of the five were Yadavs, Akhilesh Yadav and his father Mulayam Singh Yadav. The other three candidates from the Yadav family, Dimple Yadav, Akshay Yadav and Dharmendra Yadav lost in Kannauj, Firozabad and Budaun, respectively.
However, unlike the last election, this election the Yadav family is back united with the return of Akhilesh’ uncle Shivpal Yadav into the fold. Shivpal is known for his old-school, rugged organising skills, and has helped his nephew recover his losses in the region close to their ancestral village of Saifai.
If the SP hopes to better its performance, it must ensure that unlike last time it does not face any upsets in its stronghold seats.
