Telangana: BJP struggles to erase anti-dalit, anti-tribal image

The BJP is banking on various outreach programmes to draw Dalit and tribal votes and help the party gain a foothold in the State, which is turning out to be a tough task since the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi(BRS), has strong Dalit and tribal backing in Telangana.

Hyderabad: The anti-dalit and anti-tribal image of the Bharatiya Janata Party is creating hurdles for the State BJP unit in wooing these communities ahead of the elections to the State assembly.

The BJP is banking on various outreach programmes to draw Dalit and tribal votes and help the party gain a foothold in the State, which is turning out to be a tough task since the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi(BRS), has strong Dalit and tribal backing in Telangana.

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There are 19 Scheduled Caste and 12 Scheduled Tribes constituencies in the State and out of them a majority, especially SC reserved seats, are with the ruling BRS. Currently, 17 SC reserved seats are with BRS and two are with the Congress, whereas, out of the 12 ST reserved seats, seven are with BRS and five with the Congress.

Though the BJP central leadership has directed the State unit to concentrate on these two communities, the party local leaders who are aware of the ground reality are worried as the party does not have any base in these reserved constituencies. In fact, during the 2018 assembly polls, BJP candidates lost their deposits in all the reserved constituencies.

In the last elections, the BJP won just one assembly seat with a party vote share of 6.98 per cent, whereas, the ruling BRS (Then TRS) won 88 seats with a vote share of 46.87 per cent and the Congress got a vote share of 28.43 percent.

Party leaders say that lack of support from Dalits and tribals was one of the factors that the BJP was not able to win polls in Telangana. The anti-dalit and anti-tribal image of the party was also creating problems for the local leadership in getting the support of these two communities.

According to a party State leader, the BJP national leadership feels that since of the total 84 Lok Sabha seats reserved for SCs across the country, it won 40 during the last elections, the party could do similar things in Telangana too.

However, State leaders do not quite agree.
“Just because the party succeeded in getting the support of dalits in the Hindi heartland, it does not mean that it can do so in Telangana too,” the senior leader said.

Meanwhile, allegations of atrocities against Dalits and tribals in other parts of the country and the growing outrage in the community over such incidents are threatening to erase the advantages the BJP had gained there too. Another factor which is worrying the State leadership is that there is a dearth of strong Dalit and tribal leaders in the State unit.