NEW DELHI: “There has been no impact of demanding for caste census and other attempts taken by opposition for misleading the people, belonging to various Other Backward Classes (OBCs). There has been only an impact of “Politics of Performances (PoP) of MY (Modi-Yogi)-Model on the mass psyches of the OBC voters in UP and other states also”, claimed national president of BJP OBC Morcha Dr K Laxman.
Defining the victory of BJP in UP and other states ‘triumph of trust” of OBCs reposed in the BJP’s ‘Politics of Performances’(PoP) in many ways, Dr K Laxman in an interview with Rajesh Kumar Thakur, said: "The OBC voters, including the Jat -voters, are wiser now to see through the divisive agendas of the parties in opposition. For the OBC people, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who himself belonged to an OBC caste, is the real messiah”.
It was being said that major percentages of OBC votes were polled in favour of the SP-RLD combine against the BJP-other combine, particularly in UP. How far is it true?
I think, today’s results of UP assembly elections and other states also, are enough to substantiate how deeply the BJP has won the hearts of OBC voters by virtue of performances and having genuine concerns for them.
In UP, I along with other senior leaders of OBCs campaigned across almost all OBC dominated parts
in western UP and other parts. Everywhere we noticed a new kind of trust amongst the OBC people for the BJP. No doubt, many attempts were made to mislead them by the SP-RLD combine but the majority of them-specially youths and women did not get misled even for a jiffy. The BJP is the only party with genuine concerns for OBCs.
How did the BJP manage to convince the OBCs voters amid issues like unemployment, price-rise, and others including the protests against farm bills for electoral support?
In independent India for the OBC people, no other party has done as much as the BJP under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has done. The BJP reached them on the basis of works of development and empowerment started for them after Narendra Modi became the PM and Yogi Aditaynath in UP and other CMs in BJP-ruled states like Goa and Uttrakhand, implemented on the ground.
We dint manage but we got the genuine and prudent spontaneous electoral supports of OBC voters working on the “Sab ka Vikash, Sab ka Sath” mantra.
We carried out wider reach-out programs to the OBCs and socially and educationally backward classes (SEBCs) voters, to know what they want, what they have got, and what they have to say on the governance. Wherever we went during the campaigning across the OBCs pockets, 90% of them expressed their unflinching trust in the Modiji. “ Modi hai to sab kuch accha hoga’(If there is Modi, everything will be okayed”, was a common line of the OBC voters told to us.
Are you sure that Jat voters have voted for the BJP in UP?
Let what the opposition claims be with them only. The reality is that the Jat-voters in good percentages have voted for the BJP in Western parts of UP. Side by side, as we estimate, 60% of Jat women voters and more than 65% of Jat- youths reposing trust in Prime Minister Narendra Modi and good governance of Yogi have voted us.
In UP alone, there are 43.13% of total voters are of OBCs. And of them, Jat comprises around 3.6%. And out of 3.6% of Jat voters, a good percentage had voted for the BJP in rural as well as urban areas. Apart from Jat voters, the BJP has also got votes from SC, ST, and other extremely poor communities, who were once used to be subjected to various kinds of atrocities and kept marginalized during the SP rule.
What factors basically made the women voters go in favour of the BJP in UP and other states also as per your assessments?
It is now almost certain that the SR (Safety and Ration) factors on the ground basically motivated women voters to vote for the BJP, particularly in UP. In other states, the factors remained the same as the free-rations, the Ujjwala scheme, and financial support was given to women during the Covid-crisis and through Jandhan yojna, helped the BJP in winning the votes of women.
As is being speculated in the political corridors also here, the BJP may seek votes in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in 2024 projecting a non-Yadav OBC face particularly in UP which has more than 43.13% of the total population belonging to OBCs. Is it true?
This is merely speculation far from any such consideration ever made or thought-about within the BJP. The Yogi has created a history by retaining power for the second consecutive time in UP. The OBC voters have again reposed their electoral trust in the Yogi-led BJP government under the MY model of good governance.
So, I think, it is just wild speculation. The ‘sushasan’ (good governance) and free ‘ration”(foods materials) ensured by the Yogi ji government in UP have no parallel. The OBC people have got a
genuine messiah in Modiji, so there is no need of thinking anything apart.
Do you think that with the victory of AAP in Punjab, where the BJP has failed to even make its political presence felt, would emerge as a national opposition against the BJP replacing the Congress Party?
There is no relevance of opposition now against the BJP. The opposition has nothing to take against the BJP, except leveling accusations and spreading propaganda.
The AAP has no potential to emerge as a national party just only after winning the Punjab elections. Other parties like the Congress, the TMC, the NCP, the ShivSena, the RJD, and others in opposition have so far only been claiming to be the champion of OBCs but they never did anything for them on the ground. So, be it known, the BJP could not be challenged by the opposition, which is opposed against each other from within.