After Setting Its House in Order in UP, Congress Fine-tunes Caste Arithmetic Ahead of 2022 Elections

All through the month of August, the Congress in Uttar Pradesh seemed a bit slow in its pace of protests on the streets. It was unlike what was witnessed in the months before that, with the party’s confrontation with the Yogi Adityanath government on the issue of buses for migrant labourers being the high point.

The party further seemed to be giving space to other opposition parties, with reports of internal bickering among leaders, old guard vs young turks debate and speculations about Priyanka Gandhi’s delay in coming to the state even as Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) leader and MP Sanjay Singh dug heels in Lucknow, going for an all-out attack against the BJP government.

However, this apparent slowdown was part of a larger strategy or may be a necessity. Though not visible on the surface, the activities at the party’s state headquarters in Lucknow were scaled up to a frenetic pace and personally anchored there was Sandeep Singh, the personal secretary to party general secretary and Uttar Pradesh in-charge Priyanka Gandhi.

Sources say Singh was in Lucknow since August 16 on a special mission assigned by his leader. The mission was to put the party’s internal house in order, curb dissent, forge solidarity between the new and old leadership and all along, do a solid caste homework to lay a strong pitch for the assembly elections that are a year-and-a-half away.

THE BIG BRAHMIN PUSH

The month-long exercise to put the house in order is now on the fast track, with the Congress trying to find a solid caste base in the state. The exercise, which was started last year by elevating Ajay Kumar Lallu — a lesser-known leader from one of the most backward castes — as party’s state president, seems to be heading towards a culmination with a strong Brahmin push being made in the newly constituted Congress working committee (CWC) and allocation of other central responsibilities.

The Brahmin faces who have either been elevated or accommodated also include former Union minister Jitin Prasada. While Prasada continues to be in the CWC as a permanent invitee, the party high command had also placed a mega responsibility of the poll-bound state of West Bengal on his shoulders. The ex-Union minister has been made in-charge of West Bengal and Andaman and Nicobar.

Clearly, despite being a signatory to the dissent letter written to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, the young Brahmin leader has not been ignored. Pramod Tiwari, another big name of UP Congress, and Rajiv Shukla are the other two Brahmin leaders to find place as permanent invitees to the CWC.

Another top Brahmin leader from eastern Uttar Pradesh entrusted with a major responsibility is former MP Rajesh Mishra. He is now part of the five-member central election authority of the All India Congress committee (AICC).

MINORITES AND THE OTHER CASTE HOMEWORK

Apart from the big Brahmin push, Rajya Sabha MP and party’s strong Dalit face in UP, PL Puniya, too is a permanent invitee to CWC and will also continue to be the in-charge for Chhattisgarh. The other 3 leaders from UP, who have found place in the party’s top decision-making body are RPN Singh, Vivek Bansal and Salman Khurshid.

While RPN Singh, who hails from the royal family of Kushinagar town in eastern Uttar Pradesh, is from the backward caste; Bansal comes from the Vaishya community. Apart from a place in the CWC, RPN Singh has also been given the responsibility for the state of Jharkhand, while Bansal has been appointed in-charge for Haryana.

Salman Khurshid, The lone Muslim face from UP to be in the highest decision-making body of the party, had earlier also been entrusted with the responsibility of heading the manifesto committee in Uttar Pradesh. As in-charge of this committee, Khurshid will be working closely with Priyanka Gandhi in drafting the party’s election manifesto ahead of the 2022 assembly polls.

WHY CASTE ARITHMTIC IS NECESSARY

Even before the recent re-structuring of the party’s central leadership keeping in mind the caste fault lines was done, an attempt at caste mathematics was already underway at the state level. The recently expanded state Congress committee has seen a serious consideration of the same. While one of the two organisation secretaries is Sanjeev Sharma, a Brahmin, the other is Anil Yadav, an OBC.

There were also eight other Brahmin leaders among the 30 more appointments made to the PCC. Five each are from the Muslim and the Dalit communities. The expanded state committee is expected to give more strength to the party already being headed by Ajay Kumar Lallu, a two-term MLA from a humble background and a backward caste.

The question is why is this caste homework so necessary for the Grand Old Party and what does it aim to achieve through the new re-structuring? Insiders say the party is working on a two-pronged strategy. While on one hand, Priyanka Gandhi herself is gearing up to launch a campaign in the state and lead it from the front, the other agenda is to have a strong and caste-calculated organisation to convert her charisma into votes and support.

A senior leader in the party said, “Struggle on streets and Brand Priyanka alone can’t ensure a big electoral victory. The party needs a strong caste base. For us, the priority at hand is to bring back the Brahmins to our fold.”

Historically, since India’s Independence to the mid-eighties, Brahmins and Dalits had been the party’s core vote base. Brahmins, to a larger extent, then moved on to the BJP under the rising influence of Hindutva politics, while Dalits gradually shifted towards caste-based identity politics of the BSP. The Muslims, henceforth, kept experimenting with either the Backward Caste dominated Samajwadi Party or else the BSP in order to fight the BJP.

Now, as Priyanka Gandhi has taken a serious plunge in state politics, it becomes imperative for her and her party to regain the lost ground. The idea is that if the party can successfully win back the Brahmins and a section of Dalits, it can then hope to catch on to the imagination of the minorities as well.

Amidst the rising Brahmin discontent against the Yogi Adityanath government and Priyanka Gandhi’s strong outreach among the Muslims in the aftermath of the anti-CAA stir, the party hopes for a turn-around. The hope is that Priyanka Gandhi’s strong intervention in the state on issues ranging from law and order to cases of atrocities on Dalits, along with a strong organisation, will catch people’s imagination in the days to come.