UP was run for 20 years, but Zero Hour has been going on for 32 years, how did Brahmins come out of power in Uttar Pradesh?

Brahmin in UP Politics: Once again caste equations have created a huge stir in the politics of Uttar Pradesh. A meeting of Brahmin MLAs of Bharatiya Janata Party in the capital Lucknow has given sleepless nights to the party high command. This meeting, held during the winter session of the Assembly, has sparked a new discussion in the political circles. The matter escalated so much that after this meeting, UP Deputy CM Brijesh Pathak had to run to Delhi. At the same time, for damage control, the new state president of UP BJP Pankaj Chaudhary had to come forward and issued a strict warning regarding such meetings.

This meeting has created panic not only within the ruling party but also in the opposition camp. While on one hand the BJP leadership is considering it as indiscipline and against the party constitution, on the other hand Samajwadi Party and Congress have termed it as the dual policy of BJP. The sharp question of the opposition is that when leaders of Thakur, Kurmi or OBC community hold a meeting, no one has any objection, but when Brahmin MLAs hold a meeting to share their sorrows and pains, then why is the BJP leadership facing so much problem? This incident exposes the deep roots of caste politics of UP and the current condition of Brahmin society.

‘Litti-Chokha’ political battle over

This famous meeting was held during the winter session of the Legislature on 23 December in the capital Lucknow. It was officially reported that it was the birthday celebration of the wife of Kushinagar BJP MLA PN Pathak, for which a banquet was organized at his Lucknow residence. But this ‘Litti-Chokha’ About 45 to 50 Brahmin MLAs from Purvanchal and Bundelkhand attended the banquet. The most important thing was that not only BJP but also Brahmin MLAs from other parties participated in this meeting.

Meeting of Brahmin MLAs (Source- Social Media)

The gathering of such a large number of MLAs from the same caste created a stir in the Yogi government. According to media reports, the matter became so serious that Chief Minister’s OSD Sarwan Baghel himself called MLA PN Pathak and inquired about the matter. However, Pathak clarified that this was not a political meeting. It is even said that senior officials of RSS and BJP were also involved in pacifying this matter.

Pankaj Chaudhary furious at the meeting

After the meeting, UP BJP President Pankaj Choudhary took a strong stance and said that such meetings are not in the BJP’s constitution. A press release was issued by the party saying that during the assembly session, a special banquet was organized by some public representatives, in which discussions were held about their society. The party has made it clear after talking to the MLAs that any such activity is not in accordance with the constitutional traditions of the BJP. A warning has been given for the future that if any public representative repeats this, it will be considered as indiscipline.

BJP leaders defended

However, Deputy CM Brijesh Pathak tried to handle the matter. He said that the spectacles of those watching are wrong, but the objectives are not wrong. People meet and should also meet. If an MLA goes to someone’s birthday, anniversary or to eat Litti-Chokha, it should not be seen as a caste meeting. At the same time, former BJP MP Brij Bhushan Singh, while supporting the MLAs, said that there is nothing wrong in whether four Kshatriyas or four Brahmins meet and sit together and discuss. He said that I welcome this meeting and do not consider it wrong. Government ministers Dharamveer Prajapati and Sunil Sharma also defended, saying that MLAs often sit together during the session and no political meaning should be taken from it. He claimed that in the meeting only strengthening of the nation, Sanatan and the party would have been discussed.

Opposition parties launched sharp attack

The opposition has also fiercely targeted this infighting within the BJP. Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav taunted in a poetic manner and said that if you arrange a gathering for your own people then you are kind, and are sending a warning order to others. Shivpal Yadav said that BJP people divide into castes. He invited the angry Brahmin MLAs to join SP and said that they will get full respect here.

Family meeting of Kshatriya leaders (Source- Social media)

SP leader Pawan Pandey claimed that the Brahmin MLAs gathered and shared their pain and cried that the inspector-kotwal were not listening to them and they were being humiliated in the government. The people at the top felt bad about this, so now they are being scolded. Congress State President Ajay Rai also said that the BJP State President has insulted the Brahmin MLAs. He raised the question that when the meeting of other castes was held, no action was taken but the Brahmin community was being specifically targeted.

Kshatriya leaders had held a meeting

The opposition’s allegations also seem to have substance because recently the Kshatriya MLAs have called for ‘family family’. Meetings were held twice in the name of BJP, in which state government ministers Jaiveer Singh and Dayashankar Singh also participated, but then BJP did not raise any objection. Similarly, even when Rajbir Singh Raju Bhaiya, son of former Chief Minister Kalyan Singh, organized a conference of Lodh Samaj and Kurmi MLAs held a meeting under the banner of Kurmi Intellectual Thought Forum, the party maintained silence. This pain was expressed in the meeting of Brahmin MLAs that many castes have become powerful, but Brahmins have lagged behind. His voice is getting lost in caste politics and despite being the Deputy Chief Minister from his community, he does not have the power that he should have.

Uttar Pradesh’s ‘Brahmin period’

If we look at the history of Uttar Pradesh, this restlessness of Brahmins is not baseless. There have been a total of 21 Chief Ministers in UP so far, out of which 6 have been from the Brahmin community. That means UP was run by Brahmin Chief Ministers for about 20 years. The period from 1946 to 1989 is called the &8216;Brahmin period of UP&8217; It can be said.

When the Kakori incident took place in 1925 during the freedom struggle, no one was ready to advocate for the boys of UP. Then Govind Ballabh Pant came forward, who later became the first Brahmin leader and Chief Minister of UP. Apart from him, Brahmin leaders like Sucheta Kripalani, Kamalapati Tripathi, Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna and Shripati Mishra held the post of Chief Minister. Narayan Dutt Tiwari was the last Brahmin Chief Minister of UP.

32 years: Zero Hour of Brahmins

But after 1989 the situation changed completely. This is called ‘Brahmin Zero Period’ It can be said, because in the last 32 years not a single Brahmin has become the Chief Minister. Its foundation was laid by the Mandal Commission report in 1980. On August 13, 1990, then Prime Minister VP Singh, himself a Thakur, implemented the recommendations of the Mandal Commission, which gave 27 percent reservation to backward castes.

After this, the time came for the OBC and Scheduled Caste leaders of UP. Since 1989, BJP has formed the government in the state four times, in which it made two Thakurs, one tradesman and one Lodhi Rajput as Chief Ministers. Both the times SP chose Yadav and BSP from Scheduled Caste as Chief Minister. Today the situation is that there is no big Brahmin face in the politics of UP who can be seen in the race for Chief Minister.

Also read: Where Brahmins gather… big statement by the MLA who hosted a feast for the MLAs, who gave the message?

In 2007, Brahmins supported BSP, in 2009, being angry with the SC-ST Act cases, they went with SP in 2012. In 2017, he gave strong support to BJP in protest against Yadavism. In 2017, Congress had made an attempt by putting forward Sheila Dikshit, but that path also got closed due to the alliance. Now this voice raised within the BJP is indicating that the Brahmin community is hurt by its political neglect and in the pretext of Litti-Chokha feast is making it feel its unity and strength.