National Executive to mull ways to dispel fear as party is wary of upper caste vote swing

With several of its leaders openly expressing concerns over the upper caste anger against restoration of the stringent provision of the Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, the BJP is set to discuss the issue in its National Executive meeting beginning on Saturday.

The party is keenly monitoring the needle of the upper caste compass in view of the upcoming Assembly elections in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, and next year’s Lok Sabha poll.

“The Supreme Court verdict was correct. There should be safeguards,” asserted former Union Agriculture Minister and BJP MP from Muzaffarnagar Sanjeev Balyan denouncing the harsh clauses in the Act. Talking to The Pioneer, the BJP leader said the SC/ST Act “is driving fissures in social integration”.

On the “anger” against reservation politics, Balyan said the BJP manifesto speaks of reservation on “economic basis” and “that should be our party line”.

The BJP MP was obviously articulating upper caste angst against the “unfair treatment” meted out to them in the current system.

Earlier party MP Subramanian Swamy, Harshwardhan Singh Dungarpur, Kalraj Mishra among several other leaders have openly slammed the amended SC/AT Act.

The worry over caste arithmetic close to the Lok Sabha poll 2019 and the spiralling implications of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Bill, 2018 passed in Parliament last month to nullify the Supreme Court order (which had set certain safeguards prior to the arrest of the accused) has rattled the party leadership.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah reportedly discussed the implication of the scenario and instructed party leaders and spokespersons to be cautious and not to offer a “loose comment” on the issue.

Though not averse to taking credit for moving and having passed the Amendment Bill by Parliament in August, the BJP is uncomfortable with the response the upper caste-sponsored Bharat Bandh got in the Hindi heartland.

The upper castes have alleged rampant misuse of the law which gives police the power to arrest the accused without preliminary enquiry and has no provision of anticipatory bail.

The Supreme Court, in its order on the SC/ST Act, had laid down stringent safeguards, including provisions for anticipatory bail and a “preliminary enquiry” before registration of a case. The apex court had noted that there had been “instances of abuse” of the Act by “vested interests” for political or personal reasons.

However, the BJP feels that while it may have to bear the brunt of the upper caste anger, it would help the party to improve its image as pro-Dalits.

“The expression of anger and agitation by the upper caste against the restoration of stringent clauses in the Act goes on to puncture the Opposition propaganda that we are against the Dalits,” said a senior BJP leader requesting anonymity and suggesting that by default the BJP’s image is getting hit (without the party asking for it).

He said the party has, for long, been accused of playing anti-Dalit politics by the Left and the Congress without any evidence on the ground.

The matter was also recently discussed at the meeting of the BJP Chief Ministers with the Prime Minister. Source said the BJP leadership is asking the upper caste MPs and its leaders to reach out to their upper caste voters and assure them that the Act would not be allowed to be misused on the ground.

The BJP Government in UP has already scrutinised most of the cases under the Act and maintained that “right compensations” would be given wherever instances of misuse were proved after the investigation.

Commenting on the Bharat Bandh organised by the upper caste and OBC on Wednesday against the Act, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said, “In a democracy everyone has the right to express themselves” and then went on to say that “the law is to protect the downtrodden. The Government will ensure that it will not be misused.

Any shift in Brahmin vote pattern could prove fatal for the BJP in UP as well as in Rajasthan. The latter goes to poll by the year-end and has an estimated 12.5 per cent Brahmin population.