By anointing Shyam Lal Pal as the State party president on the eve of the third phase of polls, the Samajwadi Party has reached out to the Pal, Dhangarh, Garediya, Baghel group of shepherd communities that have been under-represented in the SP’s ticket distribution.
While the party has fielded 11 Kurmi candidates, including the outgoing president Naresh Uttam Patel, there is only one Pal candidate, Rajaram Pal, in the fray from the Akbarpur-Rania seat.
So while the party is explaining Mr. Pal’s appointment as a logistical matter given that Mr. Patel is contesting from Fatehpur and cannot be in Lucknow anymore, the reality, party insiders say, is that by appointing Mr. Pal, the leadership is trying to cut the influence of Union Minister Satypal Singh Baghel in the Yadav belt to safeguard its interests in the region.
Mr. Baghel, who hails from Etawah, had a long association with the SP before switching to the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and finally moving to the BJP in 2015, is contesting from the Agra (reserved) seat that is cheek by jowl with Firozabad from where Akshay Yadav, son of senior party leader Ram Gopal Yadav, is in the fray. The BJP has fielded a Thakur candidate against him and is expected to retain the community’s vote on the seat.
The Pal community comes in the Most Backward Castes (MBC) in the Other Backward Classes (OBC), and is one of the 17 MBCs that have been seeking Scheduled Caste status. It is the MBCs that have stood by the BJP in the last two elections and have made the difference in close contests.
With the move, party president Akhilesh Yadav seems to reiterate his message that the party is not only promoting non-Yadav OBCs but is also embracing the MBCs in its ‘Pichda (backward), Dalit, Adivasi’ (PDA) family. The move could impact the seats going for polls in the fourth and fifth phases. “The party has already fielded six Nishad and Bind candidates who are also part of the 17 MBCs seeking SC status. If the Kurmis, Kushwahas (seven candidates), and Nishads get even 30% of their community’s vote, they will sail through,” a senior party leader said.
During his tenure as the Chief Minister, Mulayam Singh Yadav had tried to rejig the quota but the move was rejected by the Centre. In 2019, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath also attempted but again it didn’t get the Central government’s approval. Now the SP, in its slogan of saving the reservation, is addressing the unfinished business of caste groups that feel they didn’t get their due share.
A source in Firozabad said a delegation of the Dhangar community recently met Mr. Ram Gopal Yadav, seeking support for their cause. “They have been told a caste census could be the way forward,” he said.
