Bajpai, Dubey and Tiwari to decide Brahmin votes in UP poll battle

Political analysts say that despite the SP emerging as a 'pro-Brahmin' option, there will be tactical voting, to ensure maximum representation of the community

A Bajpai, a Dubey and a Tiwari are set to sway the Brahmin votes in the Uttar Pradesh polls. Three individuals — Laxmikant Bajpai, Khushi Dubey and Hari Shankar Tiwari — have emerged as symbols of the alleged victimisation of Brahmins in the Yogi Adityanath regime.

Laxmikant Bajpai, the former state president of BJP, has emerged as a major factor among the BJP sympathisers. Bajpai, who led the party to a stupendous victory in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections with 71 seats, has won elections in 1989, 1996, 2002 and 2012.

However, he has been denied a ticket this time.

Moreover, the party has not accommodated the veteran leader in either the Rajya Sabha or the Vidhan Parishad whereas new entrants like Jitin Prasada have been adequately rewarded. "The party talks of Brahmin pride but insults our own leaders. Laxmikant Bajpai is now one of the tallest Brahmin leaders in the party but his humiliation is there for all to see. Brahmins within the party are upset but no one is speaking for obvious reasons. This will definitely impact the elections," a Brahmin legislator said.

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Bajpai himself has withdrawn from party activities and does not answer questions in this regard but his supporters in western UP, in particular, are angry. The BJP is trying to promote Uttar Pradesh Minister Brijesh Pathak as a Brahmin leader but he lacks the stature of Bajpai.

In central Uttar Pradesh, Khushi Dubey, who was widowed in the Bikru incident is set to shape the vote share. Khushi Dubey had been married for just three days when the Bikru incident -- in which eight policemen were killed -- took place.

Her husband Amar Dubey, an aide of the main accused Vikas Dubey, was killed in an encounter and Khushi was arrested for her complicity in the crime. It has been a year and a half since Khushi is languishing in jail.

BSP MP Satish Chandra Mishra was the first politician to raise the issue. He claimed that the minor widow has been targeted only because she happened to be a Brahmin. "Hers is an example of the manner in which Brahmins are being targeted by the Yogi Adityanath government," he said, offering her legal help.

Mishra raised the issue in several meetings, touting Vikas Dubey as a "victim".

"We do not say that Vikas Dubey was innocent but the police should have allowed the law to decide his fate. He was killed in cold blood. All his five associates were also shot dead by the police which had the same script for every encounter. One of them was a high school student. If this was not a massacre, then what was it?" said Shubham Tiwari, a young graduate in Kanpur.

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In eastern UP, the biggest factor for Brahmins, meanwhile, is Hari Shankar Tiwari of Gorakhpur. Hari Shankar is among the most respected Brahmin leaders of eastern Uttar Pradesh where the Thakur-Brahmin hostilities have ballooned for decades.

Soon after Yogi Adityanath took over as the chief minister, raids were conducted at the residence and offices of Tiwari in Gorakhpur. The police said that they were looking for an accused in a loot case.

His son and former BSP MLA, Vinay Shankar Tiwari, said, "The police entered my house without a search warrant. It was a clear attempt to malign the image of my 84-year-old father."

Hari Shankar's sons, Vinay Shankar Tiwari and Bhisham Shankar Tiwari, have now joined the Samajwadi Party "with the blessings of our father".

Brahmins in eastern UP have complained of police high-handedness and insist it is deliberate. "The police very promptly catch a petty criminal if he happens to be a Dubey, Mishra or Tiwari but turn a blind eye to a dreaded criminal who belongs to the Thakur community. This kind of discrimination was not seen even when Veer Bahadur Singh was chief minister and the Hari Shankar Tiwari-Virendra Shahi (another mafia don) war was at its peak," said Pradyumn Narain Mishra, a retired government employee in Maharajganj.

Also Read — Brahmin trouble brewing for BJP ahead of Uttar Pradesh polls

Senior political analyst, Samiratmaj Mishra, who has toured almost the entire state, said, "There is no denying the fact that Brahmins are disillusioned and upset with the BJP government. The Laxmikant Bajpai factor is visible within the party -- more so because Brahmins believe that they had a major role to play in the formation of the BJP government in 2017 after 15 years of political exile. The targeting of Hari Shankar Tiwari has added insult to the injury."

He said that the manner in which the government portrayed Brahmins as a community of criminals, in the aftermath of the Vikas Dubey case, has also upset the community.

Mishra said that the Brahmin voters are still searching for options and only a fraction of the community would go with the BJP. "Brahmins are being wooed by the Samajwadi Party, but I feel that there will be tactical voting and Brahmins will vote for a candidate of their community first because they feel that it is important to ensure maximum representation of Brahmins in the Assembly," he said.

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