Jankar’s influence in Baramati increased his importance in both rival alliance

In an ardent appeal to leaders across political parties in ruling coalition, Fadnavis said, “Jankar is a simple person who is wholeheartedly serving the people round the clock. He does not understand the complex politics. Therefore, it is everybody’s responsibility to plan, manage his campaign and provide full support.”

A week ago, Jankar, after meeting Fadnavis, had reiterated his party’s decision to continue the pre-poll partnership with the BJP. The RSP was part of the NDA in 2019. But over the last few years, Jankar’s relations with the BJP soured. After a series of meetings, Fadnavis succeeded in getting Jankar’s support, albeit with the promise that the RSP leader will get to contest the Lok Sabha polls from Parbhani.

Jankar represents the Dhangar community (shepherd community), which is a sizeable vote bank and is crucial in determining the electoral outcome of key constituencies such as Parbhani, Baramati, Madha, Satara, Solapur, Nashik, among others.

Jankar’s importance in 2024 polls

There has been a sudden demand for Jankar among various political alliances for the Lok Sabha elections. Both the NDA and INDIA alliance were desperate to rope in Jankar under their folds, but he settled with the former. After he had initially been ignored by the BJP and its alliance, Jankar reached out to NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar, who agreed to support him given his influence among Dhangars.

As per the arrangement, Jankar was offered Madha Lok Sabha constituency, which too has a large Dhangar population. However, the NDA trapped Jankar and made him change his mind overnight. Jankar was included in the NDA and offered Parbhani Lok Sabha constituency from the quota of the Ajit-led NCP in the seat sharing arrangement.

“I was offered Madha seat by Sharad Pawar and I am thankful to him but the Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT) had not shown interest in it. Also, the INDIA alliance offered me one seat of the three I had demanded for my party while NDA gave him one seat of the two he demanded,” Jankar had said after deciding to join the NDA alliance. He also said that it was in the interest of his party to be with the ruling alliance as it would help his party to grow.

Rise as a Dhangar leader

Jankar’s rise as a Dhangar community leader had taken place a few years ago. Incidentally, it was his clout within the community that made the BJP include the RSP in the NDA and made Jankar contest against Sule in Baramati in 2014, which he lost by a mere 70,000 votes – a small number when compared to the difference amounting to lakhs of votes in Pawar’s previous victory margins.

That same year, he was made MLC by BJP in the state and a minister in the BJP-led alliance government in the state under Devendra Fadanavis.

In 2019, the Parbhani seat was won by Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Jadhav. The NCP led by Ajit Pawar and the Shiv Sena led by Eknath Shinde had been vying for the seat. In 2019, Shiv Sena candidate Sanjay Jadhav won the seat. After the split in Shiv Sena, Sanjay Jadhav stayed with Shiv Sena (UBT) and is now a candidate from Parbhani for the UBT camp.

Ajit Pawar’s willingness to relinquish Parbhani to accommodate the RSP leader was done with keeping the Dhangar vote bank in mind. Jankar will help the NCP consolidate Dhangar votes in Baramati, where Sunetra Pawar, DCM Ajit’s wife, is contesting this year. There are approximately four lakh Dhangar community members in Baramati. She is also up against sitting MP Supriya Sule from NCP(SP). BJP leaders have publicly stated they want to see Sharad Pawar get defeated in his home turf.

Dhangar vote bank

With nine per cent of the state’s population comprising Dhangars, who reside in ghettos, the community represents an important vote bank that the BJP cannot afford to lose at any cost. After the 2014 state assembly polls, Jankar was made cabinet minister for Animal Husbandry, Dairy Development and Fisheries. The Dhangar community, under the umbrella organisation Maharashtra State Dhangar Welfare Association, has been demanding reservation under the Scheduled Tribes category. In principle, the BJP had committed to look into the demand almost ten years ago. However, the matter is yet to be resolved as the ST community opposed the Dhangar community’s inclusion tooth and nail.

“The community, under the name Dhangad, gets ST reservation elsewhere in the country. In Maharashtra, the community got listed as Dhangar owing to a typographical error. As a result, the community was excluded from the ST category,” the pro-reservation lobby argued.

In the recent past, Maharashtra had witnessed massive agitations led by Dhangar leaders such as Prakash Shendge, Mahadev Jankar and Gopichand Padalkar.

Both, the Congress-NCP and the Shiv Sena-BJP governments had both faced flak from the Dhangar community for failing to fulfill their demand for reservation. Under the Fadnavis-led government, the Dhangar community got huge allocations for welfare schemes at par with ST. The then state government provided Rs 1,000 crore for various welfare schemes like dedicated pastures for sheep to graze, construction of student hostels, scholarships, etc.

Currently, Dhangars get reservation under the Vimukta Jati and Nomadic Tribe category (C) in Maharashtra. When the state reservation was 52 per cent, Of this, Vimukta Jatis 3 per cent; nomadic tribe B 2.5 per cent; nomadic tribe C (Dhangar) 3.5 per cent and nomadic tribe D (Vanjari) 2 per cent.

Apart from that, the government has accorded ten percent reservation to Marathas in government jobs and education. Thus, the total quota is now 62 per cent.

Although RSP on its own cannot win seats, the Dhangar vote bank makes it a force to be reckoned with in Western Maharashtra, part of North Maharashtra and the Marathwada region.