Will BJP be able to stop OBCs, Dalits from coming together?

LUCKNOW: If the BJP leadership, including its ministers in Lucknow and Delhi, is rattled over the growing possibility of an SP- BSP electoral arrangement, it is understandable as the BJP-RSS combine is helplessly watching a re-emergence of the shadow of the ‘assi banaam bees’ contest.
Here ‘assi’ or 80% means the combination of 45% OBC, 20% Dalit and 15% Muslim population against the ‘bees’ or 20% upper caste population of UP.

For more than two decades, the RSS and BJP have been successful in keeping OBCs and dalits away from each other. From 1993-95, when OBCs and dalits had come together for the first time through an alliance between the SP and the BSP, they had stalled the BJP from coming to power in the 1993 elections. That was right after the saffron brigade had claimed to “have removed the scar of Babri Masjid from the forehead of Bharat Maata,” as BJP, RSS and Bajrang Dal storm troopers had demolished the disputed structure on December 6, 1992.

While Mulayam Singh Yadav formed the government with support from Mayawati, the infamous guest house incident occurred on June 2, 1995. Amid the slugfest between the two sides, senior BJP leader Brahm Dutt Dwivedi became a saviour for Mayawati, who was locked in a room to save her life from SP goons.

Later, when Dwivedi was killed allegedly by a section of BJP leaders and his wife Prabha Dwivedi contested assembly elections from Farrukhabad, Mayawati, out of gratitude, had reciprocated by not fielding any BSP candidate against her and ensuring her victory.

After the two-year-old historic alliance between OBCs and Dalits was broken in 1995, to further bolster its relations with Mayawati, the BJP propped her as chief minister thrice—in 1995, 1996 and 2002.

The BJP-RSS combine was dominated by Brahmins, Banias and upper castes. It was struggling to assimilate Dalits into it for a united Hindu community.

The BJP lacked a strong Dalit face to woo SCs into the party fold. When Mayawati was the chief minister, BJP leader Lalji Tandon had even gone to her residence asking her to tie a ‘rakhi’ on him for a permanent relationship.

In an interview once, Mayawati had disclosed that during her alliance with the BJP, she was coaxed into joining the party but had refused.