Die is caste

AHMEDABAD: The die is caste. If the previous two assembly elections in Gujarat revolved around communal issues, this time around the caste politics is likely to influence political fortunes.
BJP, which rode to power largely due to a large following among Patels, is banking on other castes to sail through safely this time. Former chief minister Keshubhai Patel, who has a substantial following among Leuva Patels, is mobilizing support in the community in his bid to oust chief minister Narendra Modi.
While Modi offers an olive branch to Muslims through his Sadbhavana mission, his core vote bank continues to be the majority community. And, the BJP is particularly wooing votes among the scheduled caste and scheduled tribe sections of the society.
Traditionally, Dalits were never seen as a core BJP support base. But, the situation changed after 2002 riots. With the recent developments in Surendranagar, which has been on the boil for a fortnight due to death of three dalit youths in police firing in Thangadh, leaders in both BJP and Congress are monitoring the developments very closely. About 13 seats out of the total 182 in Gujarat are reserved for the scheduled castes (SC). And, though the recent tension being limited to Surendranagar, leaders believe it could impact political fortunes in other parts of the state as well. Also, both political parties are in an overdrive to woo the tribal voters as 27 seats are reserved for scheduled tribes candidates.
According to the National Sample Survey STs constitute to 20.47 per cent in rural areas while the same in urban areas was 3.93 per cent. And, SC population constitute 11.21 per cent in rural area while 9.09 population was SC in urban areas.
Similarly, other backward classes constitute 44.71 per cent population in rural area while 27.80 per cent constitute in urban areas. Of the 13 SC seats about three fall in municipal corporation areas. These are Danilimda and Asarwa in Ahmedabad and Vadodara city in Vadodara.
"Traditionally, Congress has produced good dalit leaders over years. No wonder, BJP plans to field fresh faces this time to consolidate in these pockets," says a senior BJP leader.
The biggest example is that of former additional chief secretary R M Patel who is likely to contest from reserved seat, most probably Kadi or Asarwa.