Lucknow: If the new list of national office-bearers of Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) is any indication, the saffron brigade, it seems, has been changing strategy in Western Uttar Pradesh. In the recently announced list of national office-bearers of BJP, eight names figured from UP and of these maximum four are from west.
However, unlike previous times, the BJP has ignored leaders from the Jat community and instead preferred other castes from west UP. Among the four names chosen from the west UP. One each belonged to the Gujjar and Brahmin community while two were Vaishya (traders). What is more surprising is that despite having 17 percent of population in 17 districts of west UP not a single Jat leader was found suitable for national office-bearer of the party.
Party chooses 2 leaders from Vaishya and Gujjar community
Instead the party has chosen two leaders from Vaishya community, naming Rajesh Agarwal from Bareilly as treasurer and Shiv Prakash of Moradabad as co-secretary organization. The population of Vaishya community in west UP is around four per cent. Former Samajwadi Party Rajya Sabha MP Surendra Nagar comes from Gujjar community and he has been made national secretary of BJP.
Jat community aligns with RLD, irks saffron camp
According to political analyst Ashish Awasthi, the BJP has changed its strategy for west UP due to realignment of the Jat community with Jayant Choudhury of Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD). The farmers and wrestler agitations have antagonized the Jat community and it has started returning to its old party RLD. Besides, the BJP has realized the role of other communities in its success in the 2019 parliament and 2022 assembly polls. This could be the reason behind giving preference to Gujjar, Vaishya and Brahmins in the list of national office-bearers.
Meanwhile, a senior UP BJP leader said that the party has already appointed its state president from the Jat community hence there is no question of ignoring them. He said that in the state cabinet and organization, enough Jat leaders have been accommodated.
However the party has made a Pasmanda (Backward) Muslim Dr Tariq Mansoor from west UP as the national vice-president. This decision confirms the party’s strategy of focusing on the minority dominated seats of west UP for 2024 elections
