How UP caste dynamics explain BJP’s ministerial picks from the state

Having seen a sizable chunk of Scheduled Caste (SC) and Other Backward Class (OBC) votes shift to the Samajwadi Party (SP)-Congress alliance in Uttar Pradesh, the BJP has tried to make up to communities such as Pasis (SCs) and Kurmis (OBCs) by giving them representation in the Union Council of Ministers.

From the Pasi community, the BJP has appointed 47-year-old Kamlesh Paswan, a four-term MP from Bansgaon, Minister of State (MoS) for Rural Development. The party suffered a blow in the Faizabad Lok Sabha constituency — of which Ayodhya is a part — when the SP’s Awadhesh Prasad, a Pasi leader and the Opposition party’s Dalit face, defeated two-time sitting MP Lallu Singh.

Being the second-largest Dalit subgroup after Jatavs, Pasis — who make up 16% of the Dalit population — are among the most electorally influential communities in the state. They play an especially significant role in the Awadh region of Uttar Pradesh: Faizabad, Lucknow, neighbouring Barabanki, Hardoi, Sitapur, Lakhimpur Kheri, Unnao, Rae Bareli, and Pratapgarh. With Pasis backing it, the INDIA alliance either won several seats in this region — Faizabad, Barabanki, Sitapur, Kheri, Pratapgarh, and Rae Bareli — or was able to reduce the victory margins of sitting BJP MPs in Lucknow, Hardoi, and Unnao. Lucknow MP and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s margin dropped from 3.7 lakh votes to 1.35 lakh. In Hardoi, Jai Prakash Rawat’s win margin came down from 1.32 lakh votes to 27,000. In Unnao, incumbent MP Sakshi Maharaj’s margin dropped from 4 lakh to 35,000 votes.

Given the importance of Pasis, the BJP is projected Kamlesh Paswan, whose brother Vimlesh is the Bansgaon MLA, as one of its prominent Pasi faces.

To keep its Kurmi support base content, the party has