BJP planning to launch campaign to woo dalits

New Delhi: After getting nearly one in every four Dalit votes during last year’s general elections, the BJP is now planning to launch a massive campaign from next year to woo dalits and also project itself as the true follower of B.R. Ambedkar’s ideology.

Chalked out by the RSS — the BJP’s ideological mentor — the plan could see the BJP embarking on eight rath yatras, whose point of origin will be associated with Ambedkar, like Mhow (his birthplace), Deeksha Bhoomi in Nagpur (where he embraced Buddhism), Baroda (where he worked) and Chaitya Bhoomi in Mumbai. These eight yatras are likely to culminate in Delhi, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi could address the event. These yatras could begin in January next year.

In 2017, Assembly elections are scheduled in Uttar Pradesh, a state which has a significant of dalit votebank. The BJP won 71 out of the 80 parliamentary constituencies in the state last year. In Bihar, where Assembly elections are scheduled in October-November, the BJP had to fine-tune its caste arithmetic, including allying with mahadalit leader Jitan Ram Manjhi.

The state has around 16% Dalit voters. Upbeat over its performance in the 2014 elections, when it decimated Mayawati’s BSP, whose core votebank consists of dalits, the BJP wants to project itself as an outfit which follows inclusive politics and accommodates all castes and sub-castes, including Dalits and Mahadalits.