Why SP Is Challenging BJP’s Hold on Maharaja Suheldev and Maharana Pratap’s Legacy

New Delhi: The next Uttar Pradesh Assembly election is almost two years away. However, the main opposition party in the state, the Samajwadi Party, has already unrolled a new strategy of caste appeasement by promising to build grand statues of caste icons and martial figures whom the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has appropriated and projected as protectors of Hindu Dharma.

SP president Akhilesh Yadav has promised to build impressive statues of Maharaja Suheldev and Maharana Pratap at Lucknow's Gomti Riverfront – one of his pet projects when he was in power – if he was voted to power in 2027. While Suheldev is revered by Rajbhars (an OBC community in east UP) and Pasis (a Dalit sub-caste), Maharana Pratap is a Rajput icon from the 16th-century.

While building statues or honouring caste icons is not new for any party, what stands out is that now the SP, which is following the code of PDA (pichda, dalit, alpsankhayak) politics of mobilising Dalit, backward caste and Muslim communities, is trying to stake claim over icons over whose legacies the BJP had got a stranglehold.

The BJP has used both Suheldev and Maharana Pratap to pit various Hindu communities against Muslims by reinterpreting their history and fable through modern communal lens and the binary of Hindu-Muslim.

On May 2, Yadav said that if voted to power, his government would build a statue of Suheldev, a legendary Bhar chieftain. The weapon in Suheldev’s hand would be made of eight metals and would shine like gold, he said. The historical existence of Suheldev is shrouded in mystery. As per the district gazetteer of Bahraich, where his fables are based, little is known about Suheldev except for a reference in Mirat-i-Masaudi.

Mirat-i-Masaudi is a historical romance by Abd-ur Rehman Chisti, written during the reign of Jahangir, in which Suheldev "turned the tide of victory" in favour of the local chieftains against Saiyad Salar Masud, a nephew of Mahmud of Ghazni. Suheldev is often depicted in a combative stance atop a horse and with a spear in his hand. Such a statue was built in the Lalbagh area of Lucknow during the rule of BJP chief minister Kalyan Singh.

After coming to power at the Union and state level, the BJP honoured Suheldev with a new memorial, a superfast train running from Ghazipur to Delhi, a new university and a stamp, among other things, to reach out to backward caste Hindus. Suheldev’s popularity has increased over the years to an extent that today, there are two political parties in East UP named after him.

While the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party of Om Prakash Rajbhar is a BJP ally, the Suheldev Swabhiman Party has extended support to the SP, making it a hot contest for Rajbhar votes. Rajbhars are among the most-backward communities of UP but have started becoming politically organised over the last two decades.

For the BJP, Suheldev serves not just as a means to appease caste sentiments but also an instrument to polarise Hindus and Muslims, especially pit lower caste Hindus against the minority community by pressing on the adversarial relationship between Suheldev and Saiyad Salar Masud.

The BJP and its ideological parent, the RSS, have tried to portray Suheldev as a Hindutva warrior and a rashtra nayak (national hero) who stopped Ghazi Mian’s march in Bahraich and temporarily halted the Islamisation of the region. In 2021, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath had famously asked, can the "followers" of Maharaja Suheldev and Ghazi Mian join hands, as he tried to portray the SP as pro-Muslim and rule that its alliance with other smaller backward caste-based parties was incompatible. “Can they join hands? A true ‘rasthra bhakt’ can never bow in front of invaders. He will not budge, retreat or bow,” Adityanath said at a rally weeks before the 2022 state election.

With Suheldev’s legacy being depicted through a communal lens, the opposition had till now steered clear from appropriating him and focused on other secular caste icons, among them, Uda Devi, Dalit woman freedom fighter from the war of independence in 1857, and Maharaja Bijli Pasi, a ruler in Awadh from the 12th century.

But Yadav’s promise of building a grand statue of Suheldev in Lucknow is a departure from the strategy and indicative of his party’s openness to not let the saffron party have a free run when it comes to appropriating caste icons, no matter how contested their histories.

A statue for Suheldev would be seen as a positive gesture from the SP towards the Bhars, Rajbhars and Pasis, important voting blocs in central and eastern UP who are in search of political visibility.

Yadav has also promised to erect a statue of Maharana Pratap and demanded that a two-day state holiday be declared on his birth anniversary or Maharana Pratap Jayanti. “In his honour, not only will the most beautiful statue be installed but the sword in his hand will be shiny and made of gold,” said Yadav last week as he made the announcement.

His promise to build a statue of Maharana Pratap has two key elements. First, it appears to be an attempt to ease tensions in the wake of intense protests against the SP by BJP-backed Kshatriya groups such as Karni Sena over comments on Rana Sanga.

Senior Dalit leader and SP’s Rajya Sabha MP Ramji Lal Suman, while speaking in parliament, had apparently offended Kshatriya groups by insinuating collaboration between 16th century Rajput ruler Rana Sanga and the first Mughal emperor Babur. Karni Sena-led vigilantes launched several attacks on him and his property and continue to threaten the leader with dire consequences.

By promising a statue of Maharana Pratap, Yadav has tried to blunt the BJP’s narrative of pitching his party as anti-Kshatriya. Although Thakurs are not a major voting bloc in terms of numbers, they have areas of influence and muscle power. Also, reconciliatory gestures like these offer solace to Thakur leaders of the SP as they would have found it difficult to confront their community while seeking votes if the BJP was successful in painting the party as antagonistic to Rajput and Thakur voters.

The second element to this promise appears to be Yadav’s efforts to not allow the BJP a free run in appropriating popular caste icons. The BJP has regularly projected Maharana Pratap as a nationalist hero to underline the message of “Bharat’s swabhimaan and samman” to override other caste sentiments. “We will eat roti made of grass but will not bow our heads before foreign rulers,” Adityanath said, evoking Maharana Pratap’s sentiments against the Mughals while campaigning in the 2024 Lok Sabha election.

By juxtaposing Maharana Pratap against the Mughals, the BJP evokes the image of a son-of-the-soil Hindu Rajput leader pitted against 'Muslim invaders' to polarise Hindu voters against Muslims.

Donning a saffron-chequered turban, a marker of the Rajput rulers, Yadav on May 9 said, “This government is trying to own everything. This habit of owning…to say that ‘Maharana Pratap ji only belongs to us.’ Maharana Pratap ji belongs to everyone,” as he hailed the ruler for his sacrifice and valour. “Icons should not be brought into politics. One shouldn’t take political advantage out of it," he added.

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