Entry of ‘Bihar Model’ in UP politics! How did Om Prakash Rajbhar set a strong stake for non-Yadav against Akhilesh?

Whenever politics is mentioned in the country, the discussion can never be complete without talking about the politics of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. The mood of politics of these two states is amazing. Although there are many differences geographically and culturally between UP and Bihar, but when it comes to vote bank and caste equation, the ‘politics’ of both the states looks exactly the same.

Just as in Bihar, a big party climbs the ladder of power with the help of strong Muslim-Yadav (MY) alliance, while the other party plays the non-Yadav and extremely backward card, the same chessboard has now been laid in Uttar Pradesh too. If you are wondering why Bihar is suddenly being mentioned in the discussion of UP, then let us tell you that whatever is happening in the politics of UP these days, its script has long ago become a super-hit in Bihar.

Rajbhar opened a direct front against Yadavs, sharp attacks are happening every day

In fact, in the Yogi government, Cabinet Minister and SubhaSP (SBSP) chief Om Prakash Rajbhar these days is directly opening a front against the Yadav community along with Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav. Rajbhar is posting many such posts and tweets on social media every day, in which he is seen making sharp attacks on some faces of Yadav community. They are exposing his alleged criminal records and illegal activities to the public. But now the biggest question being raised in the corridors of politics is why Om Prakash Rajbhar is doing this? Does he really have any personal problem with any particular caste or is there a bigger political game plan behind this?

Why is only one particular vote bank on Rajbhar’s target?

The answer to this question is hidden in the ground reality of UP. It is well known that the Yadav community of Uttar Pradesh is considered to be the most staunch and loyal supporter of the Samajwadi Party. At the time of elections, voters of other castes may move away from one another, but it is considered impossible for Yadav voters to move away from SP. This is the reason why Om Prakash Rajbhar is directly targeting this core vote bank. By doing this they are trying to mobilize other backward and extremely backward castes of the state. The special thing is that Rajbhar is doing all this not only for the benefit of his party, but also to fulfill the bigger political agenda of his ally BJP.

Bihar’s story of 90s is being repeated in UP

If we look back at the history of Bihar politics, in the 1990s, Lalu Prasad Yadav’s party Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) had openly formulated an impenetrable equation, which was named ‘MY’ (Muslim and Yadav). There is an amazing craze of people of Yadav caste towards RJD in Bihar. But to demolish this strong fort of RJD, George Fernandes’ Samata Party and later Nitish Kumar’s JDU adopted the strategy of uniting ‘non-Yadav’ castes, which was completely successful. Today, exactly the same scenario is being seen in Uttar Pradesh, the only difference is that the aggressive face of this entire campaign in UP is not BJP itself but its ally Om Prakash Rajbhar.

How was this special ‘non-Yadav’ politics successful in Bihar?

During the 1990s in Bihar, Lalu Yadav’s politics was completely based on ‘social justice’. But gradually, a perception started developing among the other backward castes that only a particular caste is getting the maximum share in power, jobs and administration and the rest are lagging behind. Whenever there was SP government in Uttar Pradesh, the opposition kept making the same allegations against Akhilesh Yadav and Mulayam Singh Yadav. Recently, a poster was also widely discussed in UP, in which the SP chief was directly accused of promoting ‘Yadavism’.

In Bihar, Samata Party had made this resentment its biggest weapon and spread the message across the state that until the political dominance of Yadavs does not end, the other backward castes will not get their rights. The result of this strategy was that dozens of small backward castes like Kurmi, Kushwaha, Nishad, Nonia, Teli, Kumhar and Mallah joined a new social alliance against Lalu Yadav, which later emerged as Nitish Kumar’s biggest political force.

Om Prakash Rajbhar engaged in defusing SP’s claims

The strongest fort of Samajwadi Party in the politics of Uttar Pradesh are Muslim and Yadav (MY) voters. However, Akhilesh Yadav continuously claims that his party is working on the principle of PDA (Backwards, Dalits and Minorities) and that he is the leader of all backward people. But BJP and its allies are trying their best to completely fail this claim of SP. Om Prakash Rajbhar is standing at the forefront on this front. Through rallies and statements, he is continuously sending this message to the public that even today only a particular class continues to dominate SP politics, so that dissatisfaction can be created among the other backward castes.

How will BJP get huge benefit from this maze of Rajbhar?

Since 2014, the main basis of the ‘social engineering’ by which BJP has defeated its opponents in Uttar Pradesh has been to bring non-Yadav OBCs and non-Jatav Dalits into its fold. BJP strategists know very well that a large part of the Yadav votebank is associated with SP like Fevicol. Therefore, instead of making a dent in that vote bank, BJP’s strategy is to keep all the other backward and extremely backward castes firmly in its fold. In such a situation, Om Prakash Rajbhar is doing exactly the same thing and conveying the same strong message to the public, which BJP has always avoided saying directly from its platform.