Caste and regional imbalance plaguing M.P., says Uma Bharti

Former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Uma Bharti has warned that the prevailing regional and caste imbalances in the State could lead to conflict if unresolved.

“I have been telling [Chief Minister] Shivraji [Singh Chouhan] from the very beginning that the caste balance in governance and administration is disturbed,” she said. When Mr. Chouhan’s Cabinet was expanded, she had said that the Gwalior and Rewa divisions were getting neglected and that the there was disparity between various groups when it came to participation in administration, Ms. Bharti added.

“This inequality will flare up in various forms and may lead to anarchy,” she said. The former Chief Minister also advocated reservation for the poorer section of the upper castes in private sector and advocated reservations for SC-ST and OBCs in the private sector as well.

A day later, Congress’ State president and another former Chief Minister, Kamal Nath, said that Ms. Bharti’s claim reflected the reality in the State which was socially diverse. He also invited Ms. Bharti to join Congress’ ongoing Bharat Jodo Yatra.

Pressure tactic

While Ms. Bharti is known to often take on her own party’s government on various issues, soucres in the BJP said it was more a pressure tactic to have a greater say in organisational and cabinet posts in the coming days than a crusade for social justice.

“How can she say that the Gwalior region is neglected when it has the most number of ministers in the cabinet (Mr. Chouhan leads a cabinet of 30-odd ministers). Because the government was formed with Mr. Jyotiraditya Scindia’s supporter MLAs who crossed over, they had to be given ministerial berths. All of them hail from the Gwalior region,” said a BJP source.

The source also contested the claims on caste imbalance in the cabinet, pointing out that several senior and powerful ministers in Mr. Chouhan’s cabinet, such as Bhupendra Singh and Mohan Yadav hailed from the OBC community. However, in the current government, Home Minister Narottam Mishra, a Brahmin, has emerged as the face of the Cabinet while the party’s State unit is also led by V D Sharma, another Brahmin, points a Congress source.

While OBCs constitute well over half of Madhya Pradesh’s electorate, the various sub-groups exhibit different pattern of voting. Ms. Bharti, as well as Mr. Chouhan, are both OBCs, with the former representing the strong Lodhi community.

Last month, ex-MLA Pritam Lodhi — a distant relative of Ms. Bharti who is also seen as a key political aide — was suspended from the BJP over his alleged anti-Brahmin remarks. Since then, he has been touring the Gwalior-Chambal region and is trying to bring together OBCs, SCs and STs on the same platform. His programmes have drawn crowds and such a social alliance is expected to antagonise the upper caste voters, leaving the BJP in a catch-22 situation, believes a section of the party.

During her press conference, Ms. Bharti asked the Brahmin community to forgive Mr. Lodhi for his earlier remarks and emphasised on the importance of restrained language while expressing one’s views, she also recalled Mr. Lodhi’s long association with the BJP and “the sacrifices made by him”. Sections of the BJP believe that the party not appearing to be on the same page on such issues could be bad optics, with the 2023 election inching closer.