LUCKNOW: The upper caste Bhumihar leader Ajay Rai taking over as Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) president last week is not to the liking of a section within the party. The murmurings are too loud to be ignored.
The outgoing president, Brijlal Khabri, a Dalit, has revealed his displeasure over the party leadership's decision to remove him from the post. Khabri has decided to meet Waynad MP Rahul Gandhi to ascertain the reason for his removal from the top post. The party's central election committee member and former Varanasi MP, Rajesh Mishra felt that the Congress leadership ignored equitableness by appointing a ‘Bhumihar’ as the new chief of the state unit.
Khabri, who was appointed party chief on October 2022, has lately fallen out of favour, particularly with Priyanka Gandhi’s team working in UP, a report said.
During an interaction with media persons, Khabri said he was hurt by the way he was removed from the post of state party chief, which he claimed, happened behind his back.
“I am hurt, but not angry...,” claimed Khabri who held the office for barely 10 months.
Khabri said that it is important to meet Rahul Gandhi. He is reflecting on whether or not the Wayanad MP was aware of the move to kick him out.
“I would like to know the conditions that led to my removal,” said Khabri while claiming that he had accepted it as it was the party’s decision.
He said that since he shared his purpose to save the Constitution and democracy with Rahul Gandhi, he would continue to work in Congress tirelessly.
“Post and position hardly matter in such a mission,” he said.
“Dalits and Muslims have started moving towards the Congress. I carried out ‘Samvidhaan Bachao Sankalp Sabha’ from July 9 to August 13 and covered almost all the districts of the state. UP Congress meetings had started drawing crowds of 10,000 comprising Dalits, Muslims and deprived people,” he said.
On the other, former MP and senior Congress leader, Rajesh Mishra felt that at a time when the party was making every effort to project Rahul Gandhi as future PM, party’s decision to handover UP leadership to a Bhumihar (landowner caste) was beyond the level of understanding.
“The focus should have been on winning over the core voters – Dalits, Brahmins and Muslims – who kept the Congress in power for 70 years,” Mishra noted.
While talking to media persons in Varanasi, Mishra sought to compare the contribution of Brahmins, Dalits and Muslims together to vote percentage which he claimed was over 15% each in the total population while Bhumihars comprised less than 1% in total population.
“They have a sway on just 4-5 assembly seats of the state. The fact that BJP has already obliged the Bhumihars community by according the posts of prestige to leaders like J&K Lt Governor Manoj Sinha, UP Agriculture Minister Surya Pratap Shahi and Power and Urban Development Minister AK Sharma, appointing a leader from the same caste as UPCC chief is a decision which is difficult to understand,” Mishra said. He added that it was high time to develop a mechanism to think about ways to bring Congress’s core voters back to the party in UP.
“Brahmins, Dalits and Muslims are dissatisfied with BJP, SP and BSP. Despite knowing this fact, this decision was taken. The integrity of those people, who were instrumental in Rai’s appointment, is doubtful. Congress never believed in caste politics but it maintains social balance perfectly due to which people from all sections of society voted it to power for decades,” Mishra added.
Who is Ajay Rai?
Ajay Rai, a five-time MLA from Varanasi, started his career with the student wing of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and later on participated in the Ram Janmabhoomi movement. Rai contested unsuccessfully against Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Varanasi in the 2014 and 2019 parliamentary elections. He joined the Samajwadi Party in 2009 before he switched over to the Congress and won from the Pindra assembly seat in 2012. He lost from Pindra in 2017 and 2022.