Eye on 2024 polls, BJP plays the caste card in choosing leaders for heartland states

BJP appoints first-time MLA Bhajanlal Sharma as Chief Minister of Rajasthan.

Ending days of uncertainty, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has appointed chief ministers for the Hindi heartland states of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, with an element of surprise that encompasses various factors.

With an eye on the Lok Sabha polls next year, the saffron party has evidently concentrated on fresh leadership, caste equations, and galvanising the grassroots cadre, which is deemed instrumental in the party’s winning spree.

Instead of backing its veterans, the BJP experimented with a new set of leaders, who are relatively young, aggressive, full of fresh political vigour and are expected to lead the party into the next decade, political experts said.

The selection of Mohan Yadav, Vishnu Deo Sai, and Bhajanlal Sharma for Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Rajasthan, respectively, reflects the BJP’s strategy to cultivate a new breed of leaders, further solidifying its electoral supremacy in heartland politics.

“The BJP has been careful of major caste groups by appointing deputy chief ministers. The party doesn’t want to take chance of anti-incumbency or caste-based resentment,” said Niranjan Sahoo, analyst and fellow at ORF.

The party has reached out to key communities like tribals, backwards, upper-castes and Dalits to firm up its already strong presence from winning 62 out of the 65 Lok Sabha seats in the three states in 2019.

In Chhattisgarh, tribals constitute 32 percent of the population and the party opted for a tribal leader. Similarly, in Madhya Pradesh where the BJP walked rightrope, it chose a CM from the backward category, who make up 48 percent in the state. In Rajasthan, the BJP played the Brahmin card while picking up the chief minister, while it chose the deputy chief ministers from Rajput and Dalit, in order to strike a fine balance in the caste politics.

Analysts also say the new strategy can help the party beyond the heartland, and deepen its support base in these communities in other states as well.

“All decisions in the party are being taken by (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi and (Home Minister) Amit Shah. This time, they have charged the leadership at grassroots (to give the image) that the party cares for everyone,” said political analyst and writer Rasheed Kidwai.

He also said that the strategy has come at a time when the opposition led by the Congress is seeking a country-wide caste census and has backing for this too. “The BJP, not promising a census, has instead given space to Dalits, OBCs and tribals,” Kidwai said.