Former Madhya Pradesh chief minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Uma Bharti has warned of conflict if the current regional and caste imbalances in the state are not resolved.
“I was saying [Chief Minister] shivraji [Singh Chouhan] The caste-based balance between governance and administration has been disturbed from the very beginning. Mrs. Bharti said that when Mr. Chouhan’s cabinet expanded, he said that Gwalior and Rewa divisions were being neglected and there was a disparity between different groups to participate in administration, Ms. Bharti said.
“This inequality will flare up in various forms and can lead to anarchy,” she said. The former Chief Minister also advocated reservation for the poor section of the upper castes in the private sector and also advocated reservation for SC-ST and OBC in the private sector.
A day later, Congress state president and another former chief minister Kamal Nath said Ms Bharti’s claim reflected the reality in the state which was socially diverse. He also invited Ms. Bharti to join the ongoing Bharat Jodi Yatra of the Congress.
pressure strategy
While Ms. Bharti is often known to confront her party’s government on various issues, Sucroons in the BJP said the coming days would require greater pressure on organizational and cabinet positions than on a crusade for social justice. The strategy was more.
“How can she say that Gwalior region is neglected when she has the maximum number of ministers in the cabinet (Mr Chouhan leads a 30-odd cabinet of ministers). Because the government was formed with MLAs supporting Mr. Jyotiraditya Scindia, those who had crossed over were to be given ministerial posts. All of them are from Gwalior region,” said a BJP source.
The source also opposed claims of caste imbalance in the cabinet, pointing out that many senior and powerful ministers in Mr. Chouhan’s cabinet, such as Bhupendra Singh and Mohan Yadav, were from the OBC community. However, in the current government, Home Minister Narottam Mishra, a Brahmin, has emerged as the face of the cabinet, while the state unit of the party is also headed by VD Sharma, another Brahmin, a Congress source said.
While OBCs constitute more than half of Madhya Pradesh’s electorate, different sub-groups display different patterns of voting. Ms. Bharti, as well as Mr. Chouhan, are both OBCs, the former of whom represents the strong Lodhi community.
Last month, former MLA Pritam Lodhi – a distant relative of Ms Bharti, who is also seen as a key political ally – was suspended from the BJP for her alleged anti-Brahmin remarks. Since then he has been touring Gwalior-Chambal region and trying to bring OBC, SC and ST on one platform. His programs have drawn crowds and such a social alliance is expected to attract opposition from upper caste voters, leaving the BJP in a catch-22 situation, believes a section of the party.
During her press conference, Ms. Bharti asked the Brahmin community to forgive Mr. Lodhi for his past remarks and stressed the importance of restrained language while expressing her views, referring to Mr. Lodhi’s long association with the BJP. And also remembered the sacrifices made by them. by him”. Some sections of the BJP believe that the party does not seem to be on the same page on such issues, which may have poor optics as the 2023 elections approach.