Poll position: SP’s Kurmi brigade upstages BJP even as OBC group’s presence in UP Assembly hits record high

The BJP is expected to be concerned by the SP’s gains in the community as the ruling party considers Kurmis among its core OBC vote base in UP and Bihar, and came up with the playbook of consolidating support among “non-Yadav OBCs”. This time, 22 Kurmi MLAs from the BJP won the elections, down from 26 in 2017. In contrast, 13 Kurmi legislators were elected to the Assembly on an SP ticket, up from two in 2017.

The continued political salience of the community is also illustrated by the fact that for the second straight Assembly term it will outnumber Yadavs in the House even though Yadavs’ representation increased from 17 MLAs in 2017 to 25. Though current data does not exist, a Social Justice Committee set up by then Chief Minister Rajnath Singh in June 2001 estimated that OBCs constitute 43.13 per cent of UP’s population. The report said Yadavs make up 19.4 per cent of the OBC populace and Kurmis 7.46 per cent.

The biggest name among the three ministers who tasted defeat this time is Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, who lost to the SP’s Pallavi Patel by 7,337 votes in Sirathu. The other two ministers who bit the dust are Minister of Rural Development Rajendra Pratap Singh alias Moti Singh — he lost to Ram Singh Patel (nephew of the late dacoit Dadua) by 22,051 votes in Patti — and Minister of State for Public Works Department Chandrika Upadhyay, who lost to Anil Kumar Pradhan in Chitrakoot by 20,876 votes.

The seven constituencies that the BJP either held or where the incumbent MLA was on its side but lost to the SP’s Kurmi candidates are Meja (incumbent MLA Neelam Karvariya failed to retain the seat); Laharpur (MLA Suneel Verma lost); Raniganj (MLA Abhay Kumar alias Dhiraj Ojha was on the losing side); Rudhauli (the BJP had replaced sitting MLA Sanjay Pratap Jaiswal with his wife Sangeeta); Sagri (incumbent MLA Bandana Singh switched over from the BSP); Kaptanganj (sitting Chandra Prakash Shukla lost); and Tanda (the BJP replaced sitting MLA Sanju Devi with Kapil Dev).

The remarkable performance of the SP’s Kurmi contingent can be measured not only by the victories but also the number of close contests several of them were involved in but eventually lost. In Manikpur, Veer Singh Patel, the son of dacoit Dadua, lost to Apna Dal (Sonelal)’s Avinash Chandra Dwivedi by a mere 1,048 votes, while in Mariyahu the Apna Dal (S)’s RK Patel defeated the SP’s Sushma Patel by 1,206 votes. The BJP’s Sanjay Gangwar bested the SP’s Shailendra Singh Gangwar in Pilibhit by 6,970 votes, while the margin was a slender 217 votes in the contest between Sakendra Pratap, also a Kurmi, and SP stalwart Beni Prasad Verma’s son Rakesh Kumar Verma.

Explaining the SP’s gains among Kurmis, senior SP leader and former party spokesperson Dr Sudhir Pawar said, “That was the result of social inclusiveness of the SP, which can be established from the distribution of tickets. The BJP is increasing the share of higher castes through various measures, not only in Parliament and Assemblies but also in bureaucracy through the introduction of lateral entry, privatisation of PSUs, and contractual jobs up to the group three and four levels. The BJP policy is the co-option of OBCs & SC-STs to garner votes while the SP shares power with them.”

A BJP Kurmi leader said the party’s alliance with the Apna Dal (S) came up short in several areas. “Our alliance with the Apna Dal (S) did not help us in many places, particularly in the districts of Kaushambi (where Sirathu is located), Banda, and Chitrakoot.”

Kurmis have a sizeable presence in districts such as Mirzapur, Varanasi, Chandauli, Bhadohi, Sonbhadra, Prayagraj, Kaushambi, Pratapgarh, Bareilly, Farrukhabad, Barabanki, Bahraich, Lakhimpur Kheri, Kanpur, Unnao, Banda, and Chitrakoot.

Responding to the BJP leader’s claim, Apna Dal (S) spokesperson Rajesh Patel credited his party’s chief Anupriya Patel for the Kurmi votes that the saffron party garnered. “Anupriya Patel ji is emerging as a satrap. Because of her, Kurmis have voted for the BJP across the state. They voted in Sirathu and Chitrakoot as well. In Patti (where minister Rajendra Pratap Singh lost), Anupriya ji did not go for campaigning,” he added.

The Apna Dal (S), which splintered from the Apna Dal that was founded by Anupriya’s father Sone Lal Patel, saw five of its Kurmi candidates elected this time, one more than its tally in the last election.

However, cautioning against reading too much into the community’s record representation in the Assembly, a BJP Kurmi leader from eastern Uttar Pradesh said, “If you compare this number with the percentage of the population, it is much lower than the ratio of the population and number of MLAs of some other castes, particularly upper castes.”