PM Modi’s feet-washing picture makes it to BJP pamphlets

LUCKNOW: Less than two months after PM Narendra Modi washed the feet of five sanitary workers deployed at Kumbh in Prayagraj and hailed them and boatmen as karma yogis, his act has turned into electioneering material in the form of pamphlets for distribution in Dalitdominated pockets of Uttar Pradesh.


The pamphlet — accessed by TOI — shows Modi washing the feet of sanitary workers and wiping them with towel, besides five places associated with Dalit ideologue BR Ambedkar, which were picked by BJP government for development. The five places include Ambedkar’s birthplace Mhow, the house in London where he stayed, Ambedkar memorial in Alipur road, New Delhi, the ‘diksha bhoomi’ where Ambedkar embraced Buddhism and a memorial in his name at Dadar, Mumbai.

The leaflet is an attempt to woo the Valmiki community, most of whom have worked as sweepers for generations, and the boatmen as both form a substantial chunk of voters in UP. Valmikis are Dalits while boatmen are OBCs.

The pamphlet is part of BJP BJP strategy to reach out to Dalits comprising 20% of the voting population in UP, even as the BSP-SP-RLD

alliance

is banking on the consolidation of Dalit and OBC

votes

.

It’s an attempt to woo Dalits, OBCs: Experts

Valmikis, who account for over 20% of the 21%t Dalit voters in Uttar Pradesh, were initially with Congress but switched loyalties to other parties later. “The community needs to know how PM Modi and BJP care for them,” said UP BJP spokesperson, Chandra Mohan. Political experts also see it as an attempt to use PM’s appeal to woo Dalits and OBCs.

JP Shukla, a political analyst, said, “The social dynamics have been changing over time. There is a visible division between Dalit sub-castes, and BJP would like to make most of it.”