The BJP leadership’s warning to the Uttar Pradesh party legislators against holding any meetings based on their caste groupings seems to be an attempt to curb caste-based factionalism within the party in the run-up to the 2027 state Assembly polls.
The warning against such gatherings came publicly from the newly-appointed UP BJP president Pankaj Chaudhary Thursday, two days after several of the party’s Brahmin MLAs and MLCs met at the residence of Kushinagar MLA P N Pathak in Lucknow to discuss alleged bias against the Brahmin community in the state.
In a stern statement, Chaudhary said the meeting was “against the party’s constitution and values” and cautioned that a repeat of such events in future will be considered “indiscipline”.
A BJP leader said that it was not just one meeting of the party MLAs and MLCs from the Brahmin community that forced the leadership to react. “Before Brahmin legislators’ meeting over dinner Tuesday, another meeting of the BJP MLAs and office-bearers from western UP was held the same day over lunch at a hotel in Lucknow. Those attending this meeting are considered opponents of a senior Jat party leader from western UP. That meeting did not get attention because its photos did not come out,” said the leader.
BJP sources said that the Tuesday meeting was convened by some Brahmin party legislators
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from eastern UP as a “show of strength”. It was called over “baati chokha” dinner. Sources said a few BJP legislators from the Bhumihar and Kurmi groups were also present in this meeting.
“The images of two pages with names and contact details of BJP MLAs and MLCs participating in Tuesday dinner meeting went viral on social media. These details were collected to prepare a WhatsApp group of Brahmin party legislators,” said a BJP insider.
Sources said the BJP central leadership was upset over this meeting and that Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s office also expressed its displeasure. “After that, senior BJP leaders contacted those legislators and pulled them up. They were also warned,” said the party leader.
The meeting created ripples in the state political circles, with the Opposition parties claiming that “all was not well” within the ruling party.
“The warning for the state BJP legislators is meant to prevent the possibility of formation of caste-based factions of party leaders, who may later put pressure and bargain for tickets and ministerial berths during the 2027 Assembly polls. Formation of such pressure groups can damage the party in the elections,” said another party leader.
“The resentment among a section of the Thakur group over the BJP’s ticket distribution had caused damage to the party in several UP seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, even though the party tried to contain it by holding roadshows and rallies of Thakur leaders,” he said.
In August this year, an informal gathering of several Thakur MLAs of the BJP had taken place in Lucknow. On why the party had not issued any warning to these MLAs, the leader said, “The party leadership was then busy in holding organisational elections. Now the BJP has Pankaj Chaudhary as new state president and through him, the party leadership has tried to stop formation of such special caste groups within the party. If anybody crosses the line, he will have to face action.”
He said the BJP also got upset because when all the party MPs and MLAs have been directed to supervise the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls being conducted by the Election Commission (EC) in the state, these legislators held a meeting on a different issue, drew the attention of the media, and gave the Opposition a fresh opportunity to go after the BJP government.
Targeting the BJP, Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav, in a post on X, said: “Apno ki mehfil saje to janaab meharbaan aur dusron ko bhej rahe chetavni ka farman. (Honourable sir is kind when his people hold meetings, while others are being warned about it).”
Akhilesh also alleged that people do not get “baati chokha” but only “maati dhoka (dust and betrayal)” in the state under the BJP rule, adding that no society can tolerate when the matter has escalated from “upeksha” (ignorance) to “tiraskar” (disparagement).
State Congress spokesperson Surendra Rajpoot alleged that the BJP has always done “divisive politics” on the lines of caste and religion. “For BJP, it is acceptable if Thakur MLAs hold their meeting. But a warning is issued for Brahmin MLAs only. It is a fact that Brahmins BJP MLAs are not getting respect and they are going to lose the next elections. There is dominance of only one caste in UP,” he said.
Out of 258 MLAs of the BJP in UP, 84 are from the Other Backward Classes (OBCs), 59 Scheduled Castes (SCs), 45 Thakurs, 42 Brahmins, and 28 from other upper castes (Vaishya, Kayastha, Punjabi, Khatri).
Among 79 BJP MLCs in the state, 26 are from the OBCs, 23 Thakurs, 14 Brahmins, two SCs, 2 Muslims and 12 from other upper castes. .
In December 2021, weeks before the 2022 UP Assembly polls were announced, the BJP had constituted a four-member committee to draw the party’s strategy and programmes aimed at wooing the Brahmin community. The committee was formed after the party received feedback from the ground suggesting that the Opposition parties had been “successful to an extent” in sending out a message that Brahmins had not been getting “due respect and representation” in the state under the BJP dispensation.