Uttar Pradesh: As a Maya minister cast(e)s net to unite OBCs, BSP wary
Out on bail, NRHM accused Babu Singh Kushwaha is addressing rallies.
4 min read
Former minister Babu Singh Kushwaha
Out on bail after spending four years in jail in connection with the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) scam, former minister Babu Singh Kushwaha is a man on mission.
In a state where the political battles are decided by caste equations, Kushwaha is now busy addressing public meetings where he seeks to unite the OBCs, which include members from Kushwaha, Maurya, Saini and Shakya castes. Kushwaha also makes it a point to tell people that was “falsely implicated in the NRHM scam” by the BSP and Congress.
Kushwaha has already addressed several public meetings in Bundelkhand region and in eastern Uttar Pradesh, in areas with substantial presence of his caste members, aiming to wean away the crucial Kushwaha votes away from BSP.
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Kushwaha-Maurya is one of the largest OBC caste groups in Uttar Pradesh. The community was long nurtured politically by BSP founder Kanshi Ram and later by his successor Mayawati as “most backward castes” in an effort to counter Samajwadi Party’s hold on comparatively well-off Yadavs and Kurmis.
The former minister was released in February from the Dasna jail in Ghaziabad where he had been lodged since March 2012 after being arrested in connection with the scam, which probe agencies put at worth over several thousand crores.
Within days of getting bail, Kushwaha started his campaign under the banner of his organisation, Jan Adhikar Manch. For now, his campaign is aimed at consolidating his caste members and damaging former Chief Minister Mayawati-led BSP, which he says “did injustice to him and his caste” and implicated him in the NRHM scam only because he “raised the voice for his caste”.
The former minister is yet to reveal if he will support BJP, which he had joined before the 2012 elections but where his membership was put on hold, or the Samajwadi Party, which his wife Shivkanya and brother Shiv Charan had joined before 2014 elections. Much to the chagrin of some SP leaders, Shivkanya was named party candidate from Ghazipur in the Lok Sabha polls. She lost.
With eyes firmly fixed on the Kushwaha-Maurya caste group, BSP promoted Swami Prasad Maurya as Leader of Opposition in the Assembly. This came soon after Kushwaha’s ouster from the party.
Later, Maurya was also appointed national general secretary, a post Kushwaha had held earlier. Now, Kushwaha’s campaign combined with the appointment of Phulpur MP Keshav Prasad Maurya as BJP state president, has become a cause for concern for BSP leaders who fear that a crucial caste group may shift away from the party.
Contacted, I P Kushwaha, an associate of the former minister, said Jan Adhikar Manch has been founded to “raise of the voice of the most backward (non-Yadavs, Kurmis and Lodh), and “most-Dalits (non-Jatavs). He said Kushwaha was jailed by CBI in lieu of BSP’s support for Congress in Parliament.
About their silence on BJP and SP, I P Kushwaha said the Congress and BSP are being targetted because they did “injustice” to Kushwaha. He said Shivkanya and Shiv Charan’s being a member of SP is like people from Scindia and Nehru-Gandhi families being part of two parties —- the Congress and the BJP.
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