Deciphering caste equations within Dalits, their poll impact
Jalandhar: As Dalits in Punjab remain socially and politically divided, in the Jalandhar parliamentary byelection too, where the Scheduled Castes make 37% of the total population, the division within the Dalits may play a role in the outcome.
Like the 2022 assembly elections, where the Congress projected Charanjit Singh Channi, who comes from the Ravidasia community, as the first Dalit Sikh chief minister of Punjab, it became evident from the results that the Dalit card did not have linear impact and except Doaba, which has a major chunk of Ravidasias, it did not work elsewhere.
Deciphering caste equations within Dalits, their poll impact
According to the 2011 Census, Jalandhar had a total population of 21.93 lakh out of which 8.14 lakh were SCs. Though there are differences within the two dominating SC communities on religious identities, which at times leads to different political preferences, largely they can be bracketed under two categories – Adidharmi/Ravidasia/Ramdasia and Balmiki/Mazhabi Sikhs. If clubbed together, the former set makes the biggest chunk with 4.66 lakh population. The latter group is the second largest with 2.41 lakh population. Jalandhar parliamentary constituency has 16.41 lakh voters.
While the Congress, the Aam Aadmi Party and the Shiromani Akali Dal have fielded Adidharmi/Ravidasia/Ramdasia candidates, the BJP has opted for a Mazhabi Sikh in Inder Iqbal Singh Atwal.
During the Census, Adidharmis largely mention their religious identity as Hindu even as in practice most of them follow Guru Granth Sahib. A section among them also follows Amritbani Satguru Ravidas. Balmikis also mention their religious identity as Hindu. However, both caste identities don’t follow the ‘Hindutva’ politics and their influential groups rather oppose it. How the caste factor within the SCs is playing can be gauged from the Balmiki groups joining the BJP at the party’s election office on Monday. Even as Union minister Arjun Ram Meghwal and other BJP leaders said these groups joined the party after getting impressed with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s policies, the new entrants said the biggest factor for them to join the saffron party was that their community was getting the representation.
Sant Nachhatar Das Shegil, who heads Guru Gyan Nath Balmik Dharam Trust, told TOI that the biggest factor was that the BJP candidate was from their community. Vikas Hans of Democratic Republic Party also gave the same reason. Both claimed that this factor was working in their community.
Manjit Singh Awadaan, a Mazhabi Sikh, who earlier served as an SAD zila parishad member and was now the party’s core committee member, also joined the BJP on Monday. Speaking to TOI he also presented the same caste affiliation logic for his shift to the BJP. According to sources in the BJP, at subtle levels a message was being communicated within the Balmiki/Mazhabi Sikh community.
Contradictions between these two big SC communities had also come to the fore in the earlier elections. For example, when the Congress had ignored the candidature of noted singer Hans Raj Hans for the Rajya Sabha in 2016, Balmiki and Mazhabi organisations had cried hoarse. Earlier, Raj Kumar Verka, who switched sides from the Congress to the BJP after the 2022 assembly elections, had also talked on these lines.
Traditionally, the Congress enjoys a major hold among the Balmikis, while among the Mazhabi Sikhs, both the Congress and the SAD have their support base.
The Congress though faces the challenge from the BSP as far as Ravidasia/Adidharmi voters in Doaba are concerned. In the last decade or so, the SAD, which is contesting the election in alliance with the BSP, has managed to make major inroads into the community.
The Ramdasias have been largely going with the larger politics of the Sikh community and despite the concerted efforts being made by the BJP to woo the community to its side, it has been facing roadblocks. The party has also elevated leaders from the Adidharmi community to senior positions in the party as well as in the government.
Courtesy : TOI
Note: This news piece was originally published in timesofindia.com and used purely for non-profit/non-commercial purposes exclusively for Human Rights