BJP fields SC/ST pinch-hitters

Kolkata: The BJP candidate list for the Bengal polls is a marked departure from those released by Trinamool, Congress or Left. Many SCs, STs and OBCs figure among BJP's 245 candidates - following through on PM Narendra Modi's efforts to shed his party's upper-caste image.
"Beyond reserved ones, even on seats where SC, ST, OBC populations are significant, we've tried to field bright young backward class candidates," said Pratap Banerjee, a state general secretary.A case in point is Khanakul in Hooghly where the BJP nominee is Bikash Chandra Dolui. He takes on Trinamool MLA Iqbal Ahmed who wrested the seat from Left in 2006. But his name cropping up in the Narada sting may blight his chances.
In minority-dominated Hariharpara (Murshidabad), BJP is pitching its appeal to the Hindu backward classes: It has pitted Tulsi Prasad Sukul against Trinamool's Niyamat Sk and CPM's Insar Ali Biswas. "In Ranaghat North West, we'll garner backward class support fielding Anal Biswas against Trinamool's Partha Sarathi Chatterjee. They may not win but have the potential to grow," a BJP neta said.
This, in a state where where upper caste politicians have held monopoly. Bengal, for instance, has had only upper caste CMs - Prafulla Ghosh, Bidhan Chandra Roy, Prafulla Sen, Ajoy Mukherjee, Siddhartha Shankar Ray, Jyoti Basu, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Mamata Banerjee.
Ideologues were upper caste too - Atulya Ghosh of Congress, Pramode Dasgupta and Saroj Mukherjee of CPM, Biswanath Mukherjee and Indrajit Gupta of CPI, Charu Majumdar, Kanu Sanyal, Asim Chatterjee of the CPI(M-L).
But the industrial belt along the Hooghly and the Dooars-Darjeeling tea belt are a melting pot of diverse castes and religions.
During the Naxalite movement, students, peasants and workers joined hands. Their struggle for economic rights went beyond social identity. Yet, away from politics, social identities continued to dominate community life even in erstwhile red bastions such as Burdwan. These identities asserted themselves in the early 1990s when the class movements plateaued. Identity politics asserted itself meaningfully first in the 2006 Bongaon assembly bypoll, when the Matuas (a sect strong in at least three seats of North 24-Parganas) emerged as a bloc.
This was followed by changes in the Hills where tea workers were divided on Gorkha (Nepali) and adivasi lines, and trade unionists lost their grip. Since then, Gorkha, Lepcha, Limbu, Bhutia in the Hills, Rajbangshis in the foothills and plains of north Bengal, Santhals and Gonds in Jangalmahal, Ugra Khatriyas and Matuas among others are vying for a slice of the political pie. "We're getting more SC, ST and OBC people. This is a new experiment," said state party chief Dilip Ghosh.
Says Swapan Pal, state OBC Morcha chief, "I'm happy a significant number of OBC candidates have been fielded." Arun Halder, chief of SC Morcha says, "Even SC leaders like me are part of the poll committee. There are 27.5% SC voters in the state." ST Morcha chief Khudiram Tudu will fight from a Purulia seat.