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Journalism of Courage
In a departure from criticising the BJP, which Om Prakash Rajbhar has been doing regularly over the past four years, his party, the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP), has been dropping hints of leaning towards the BJP, ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. On Tuesday, Rajbhar said dominant OBC castes, including Maurya, Patel, Lodh, Koeri and Nishad, and upper castes, including Rajputs and Brahmins, were all with the BJP, and that these castes won’t support the Samajwadi Party (SP) in any future election.
Rajbhar’s remark came at a time when the BJP and the SP are attacking each other over OBC and Dalit votes. The latest fight between the two parties began when, a few days ago, SP MLC Swami Prasad Maurya made a remark on the Ramcharitmanas and its view on castes. While two of the top OBC faces of the BJP in UP have been attacking the SP for Maurya’s remarks on the Ramcharitmanas, the SP is using the row to project itself as a party that has the interests of the Most Backward Classes (MBCs) at its heart.
After the General Budget was was presented on Wednesday, Rajbhar said it appeared focused on the poor and on rural areas, and expressed gratitude to the central government for it. He expressed hope that benefits of the schemes announced will reach the needy.
Rajbhar is a prominent OBC leader of western UP who carved a position for himself in UP politics by striking Assembly poll alliances with the BJP in 2017 and the SP in 2022. In 2017, Rajbhar joined the Yogi Adityanath Cabinet after his SBSP had won four seats. But he quit the alliance ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Before the 2022 Assembly polls, Rajbhar had joined hands with SP president Akhilesh Yadav, who had formed an umbrella alliance of OBC political parties. SBSP won six seats but, he soon quit the alliance.
When asked about SP’s attempt to woo OBC and Dalits votes using Swami Prasad Maurya’s remark, Rajbhar said, “It will have no effect. SP did not care for the backwards and never raised a voice for a caste census when it was in power. Also, it was the SP that ended reservation in promotions. They are now making big claims to return to power. But that won’t help them. These castes will stay with their chosen parties.”
When asked with which party these castes are aligned, Rajbhar said, “As of now, Rajputs are with Yogi (Adityanath), while Brahmins and Baniyas (upper castes), as well as Koeris, Patels, Mauryas, Lodhs and Nishads (all OBCs), are with the BJP.”
On Rajbhar voters, he claimed that upto 95 per cent voters of the caste were with his party, the SBSP. He added that Nishads and Patels were with the BJP because of its alliance with the Nishad Party and the Apna Dal (Sonelal), respectively, in the UP Assembly. Apna Dal (S) is also a part of the BJP-led NDA at the Centre.
When asked if, by claiming that OBC and general castes are with the BJP, he wasn’t in fact praising the BJP, Rajbhar said he was speaking the “truth” on the basis of what he was seeing on the ground.
On the possibilities of alliance with any party ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, he said he has not yet decided, but that his party would certainly contest, adding that SBSP was currently busy strengthening the party organisation.
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Ahead of the BMC elections in Maharashtra, SBSP president Om Prakash Rajbhar on Sunday met Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray in Mumbai. “The meeting was to discuss contesting the BMC polls together. A consensus has been reached,” Rajbhar said. By contesting in the BMC polls, the SBSP is looking to expand its organisation in Mumbai. Rajbhar said there was a significant population of North Indians in Mumbai, a large numbers of whom are from eastern UP and Bihar.
According to an estimate, about 50 to 60 lakh people of North Indian origin live in Mumbai, with a population of 1.84 crore. The largest number of them come from UP. They work in industry, the service sector, retail trade, transport, culinary business, manufacturing, IT, film, TV, finance, food processing, etc. A large number of workers from UP are also working in Mumbai’s huge unorganised sector.
