GAJAB, new strategy of SP to establish victory in UP polls

|HT|

The electoral battlefield of Uttar Pradesh is known for caste arithmetic and whoever masters it, wins the mandate to govern the state. Chaudhary Charan Singh proved it by establishing an anti-Congress front in the 1960s, when the party was at its peak. He broke away from the Congress party, and led the faction to victory, even becoming the chief minister by successfully implementing AJGAR (an alliance made of Ahir, Jat, Gurjar and Rajput communities).

The Congress was able to retain power in that era by focusing on Brahmins, Dalits and Muslims. To counter this, Chaudhary Charan Singh prepared a coalition of non-Brahmin and non-Dalit communities.

They had a significant presence in a large part of western Uttar Pradesh. Out of these four, the Ahirs (Yadav) are the only one who are spread across the states.

This experiment worked successfully in the politics of UP for about 10 years, but after Mandal politics, the Samajwadi Party (SP) came into existence, and Yadavs got separated and Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) became as a party of Jats. A large number of Rajputs stayed with SP founder Mulayam Singh Yadav. In such a situation, whenever RLD and SP were together, it was said that now an attempt would be made to re-create the AJGAR equation. Similar speculations were made about the SP-RLD alliance this time, but it is proving to be wrong.

The reason behind this is the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is currently in power and Yogi Adityanath, the chief minister, is himself a Rajput.

Due to his charm, the Rajput community is completely seen in the BJP camp. In such a situation, SP and RLD have started focusing on GAJAB equation instead of AJGAR.

The GAJAB alliance is made of Gurjars, Ahirs (Yadavs), Jats and Brahmins. The SP wants to compensate the expected loss of Rajputs with Brahmin votes. This is the reason why it organised Prabuddh Sammelan in the entire state and also participated in ticket distribution. The alliance partners are also giving special emphasis on Brahmins in Purvanchal, where Brahmin vs Rajput is believed to be the dominant political theme. If the most backward castes and Muslims are added to this equation, the Samajwadi Party seems to be focusing on a large vote bank.

Whether it’s the family of Harishankar Tiwari or giving importance to the campaigning of MLA Manoj Pandey from Unchahar seat of Rae Bareli, it is clear from Akhilesh Yadav's strategy that he is implementing GAJAB.

Talking about the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), it is focusing on Brahmins, but its emphasis is seen on the BDM equation - Brahmins, Dalits and Muslims. The Congress used to do this politics in many states of North India including Uttar Pradesh.

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