The build-up to the Lok Sabha elections in Gujarat has been dominated by statewide protests held by Kshatriyas over the alleged derogatory remarks made by Parshottam Rupala, the Union minister and BJP's Rajkot candidate, against the community in a March 22 speech. The Kshatriya community has since formed a coordination committee of their 92 organisations in the state, protesting against the BJP after their demand for withdrawal of Rupala's candidature was not accepted. The Kshatriya protesters have even disrupted the campaigning of some BJP candidates in their constituencies. The BJP has however not given in to Kshatriyas' demand, even as Rupala and other party leaders have apologised to the community. Here is a look at several key communities or caste groups that drive Gujarat politics. Kshatriyas There is no official data available on the population of upper-caste Kshatriyas or Rajputs in Gujarat. The Rajput outfits’ coordination committee has claimed that the community makes up 10% population of the state, with its coordinator Ramjubha Jadeja saying that it is about 70 lakhs. Jadeja claims that the community can influence the poll outcome in a slew of the Lok Sabha seats, including Jamnagar, Rajkot, Surendranagar, Bhavnagar, Kutch, Banaskantha, Sabarkantha, Anand and Bharuch. All 26 constituencies of the state are going to polls on May 7. A Kshatriya community leader from the BJP claims that the community’s population is 17%. According to an Ahmedabad-based sociologist Gaurang Jani, the population of Rajputs would be about 7-8%. Jani said given such a numerical strength, Rajputs may not have much impact on the electoral outcome. He also pointed out that a section of Kshatriyas continues to back the BJP. A senior Gujarat BJP leader said, “We are not much bothered about this Kshatriya agitation. They are numerically not very strong. And not all of them are against us. Many of them are with BJP. So, we are not going to be affected much by this agitation. On the contrary, we may get benefited by polarisation of votes of other communities in rural areas against Kshatriyas.” However, during his campaigning in Saurashtra on May 2, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tried to assuage the Kshatriya community while asking people not to “waste” their votes for the Congress. PM Modi also met Shatrushalyasinhji Jadeja, the patriarch of the erstwhile Nawanagar ruling family, in Jamnagar. Other Backward Classes (OBCs) The OBC communities are spread across Gujarat, making up about 45-50% of its population. Two of the leading OBC groups in the state are Kolis and Thakors. Some other major OBC communities include Chaudhary, Maldharis and Nomadic-Tribes & De-Notified Tribes (NT-DNT). There are altogether 146 communities in the state which have been categorised under the OBCs, including a few Muslim groups. A senior BJP leader said, “Patidar community forms the backbone of our support in the state. However, our party makes a conscious effort not to ignore the OBCs. It has been BJP's effort to ensure that the KHAM (Kshatriya-Harijan-Adivasi-Muslim) equation formed by Congress in 1980s does not come into dominance again. And so, our party very consciously ensures that the interest and representation of OBCs is not ignored.” In the 1980s, under the leadership of then chief minister Madhavsinh Solanki, the Congress had experimented with the KHAM formula in a bid to form an electorally winning social coalition vis-a-vis Patidars who had turned against the party. Patidars The Patidar community is considered to be formidable in Gujarat, given their numerical strength as well as their dominance in several major sectors including agriculture, trade and education. It also forms the core of the BJP support base in the state. They account for about 12-15% population. The relationship between the BJP and Patidars was dented by the 2015 Patidar reservation agitation. And it did give a scare to the BJP in the 2017 Assembly elections when the party could win only 99 of the state's 182 seats, with the Congress winning 77 seats. But the ruling party has since mended its ties with the community, even appointing Bhupendra Patel, a Patidar leader, as the CM. A BJP leader said, “Numerically, OBCs are more than Patidars. But the latter is still considered more crucial for us. Apart from their population strength, Patidars also bring a lot of influence with them in terms of money and overall clout in the state.” The Patidar community plays a key role in determining the electoral results in several Lok Sabha seats including Amreli, Rajkot, Porbandar, Junagadh, Jamnagar, Bhavnagar, Kutch, Mehsana, Surat and Ahmedabad. Tribals The Scheduled Tribes (STs) form around 15% population of Gujarat. Of the 26 seats, four are ST-reserved including Dahod, Chhota Udepur, Bardoli and Valsad. The tribal population is spread across the eastern side of the state. Besides the four ST seats, the tribal presence is significant in the constituencies like Sabarkantha, Bharuch, Banaskantha and Panchmahals. The Opposition INDIA partners Congress and AAP have, respectively, fielded tribal candidates in Sabarkantha and Bharuch. The BJP has also fielded from Bharuch a veteran tribal leader and six-time MP Mansukh Vasava, who is taking on the AAP's Chaitar Vasava, which is one of the contests to watch out for in this election. Muslims Muslims are estimated to be around 10% of Gujarat's population. They are in sizeable numbers in at least 15 seats, which include Kutch, Jamnagar, Junagadh, Bharuch, Bhavnagar, Surendranagar, Patan, Banaskantha, Sabarkantha, Ahmedabad West, Ahmedabad East, Gandhinagar, Navsari, Panchmahals, and Anand. The Muslim issues have not figured prominently in the campaigning of the leading contenders, with the BJP and Congress leaders saying that they are not taking it up for “tactical reasons”. Congress stalwart Ahmed Patel was the tallest Muslim leader from the state. Since his death in 2020, there has been a vacuum of the Muslim leadership in Gujarat. Currently, the Congress MLA from Jamalpur-Khadia, Imran Khedawala, is the only Muslim member in the Gujarat Assembly. Some other prominent Muslim leaders in the state include ex-Congress MLA Gyasuddin Shaikh and Congress leader Kadir Pirzada. Dalits With an estimated population of about 8%, the Scheduled Castes (SCs) are among the significant groups in Gujarat. There are two SC-reserved seats, Ahmedabad West and Kutch, in the state. Some other constituencies having significant Dalit population include Banaskantha, Patan, Jamnagar and Surendranagar. In their poll campaign, the INDIA parties have been alleging that the BJP has made a pitch for “400 paar” in a bid to change the Constitution and undermine the reservation regime after sweeping to power. The BJP has rejected these allegations and hit back at the Congress and its allies for spreading “falsehoods”. It is in this context that the Dalit factor has assumed more significance in the fray, given the fact that the Dalit icon B R Ambedkar was the architect of the Constitution.
