In a move that has spiced up the political atmosphere in Uttar Pradesh's capital, close to four dozen Brahmin legislators from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) convened for a dinner meeting in Lucknow on Tuesday. The gathering, hosted by Kushinagar MLA PN Pathak at his official residence in Bahukhandi Mantri Awas, featured a traditional baati-chokha meal and has sent ripples through the state's political circles.
A Significant Gathering of Saffron Legislators
The dinner saw the attendance of a significant number of the party's Brahmin lawmakers. Prominent faces included MLAs like Ratnakar Misra, Prakash Dwivedi, Prem Narain Pandey, Shalabh Mani Tripathi, Ankur Raj Tiwari, Vinay Dwivedi, Rishi Tiwari, Vivekanand Pandey, and Kailashnath Shukla. They were joined by roughly three dozen other Brahmin MLAs and Members of the Legislative Council (MLCs). A notable presence was that of MLC Saket Misra, the son of retired bureaucrat Nripendra Misra.
While an attending MLA insisted the event was not a formal political meeting, he acknowledged that the political scenario of Uttar Pradesh naturally came up for discussion, given that most attendees were elected representatives.
Timing and Political Context
The meeting gains considerable political weight due to its timing. It comes just days after the BJP's central leadership appointed seven-time MP from Maharajganj, Pankaj Chaudhary, a Kurmi leader, as the new president of its Uttar Pradesh unit. This appointment was widely interpreted as the party's strategic move to woo back the Kurmi community and Other Backward Classes (OBCs) at large.
The 2024 Lok Sabha elections witnessed a noticeable drift of a section of OBC voters, including Kurmis, away from the BJP. This shift contributed to the party's seat count in the state dropping significantly from 62 in 2019 to 33 in 2024.
Seen as a Counter to Thakur Meet and Pressure Tactics
Political observers are viewing this Brahmin legislators' dinner as a multi-layered development. Firstly, it is seen as a counter to the earlier meeting of BJP's Thakur legislators, which was titled 'Kutumb Pariwar' and had similarly raised the political temperature during the Monsoon session.
More broadly, analysts perceive such caste-specific gatherings of MLAs and MLCs as a tactic to exert pressure on the party's top leadership. The implicit message is to ensure that their respective caste groups are duly considered during key political appointments and ticket distributions.
"Since the Brahmin legislators have assembled only days after Chaudhary was appointed as UP BJP chief, to see it as counter-pressure tactics should not be completely ruled out," opined a political analyst.
Implications for Upcoming State Elections
This development is set to intensify the internal dynamics within the Uttar Pradesh BJP at a crucial juncture. The state assembly elections are merely 15-16 months away, and the party is meticulously working to keep its complex caste coalition intact. The Brahmin community has traditionally been a core support base for the BJP in the state.
The dinner meeting underscores the delicate balancing act the party leadership must perform to cater to various dominant caste groups—Brahmins, Thakurs, and OBCs like Kurmis—ahead of the high-stakes electoral battle. Efforts to contact the host, Kushinagar MLA PN Pathak, for his comments on the meeting proved unsuccessful.
As the political cauldron in Lucknow simmers, such gatherings highlight the enduring role of caste calculus in Uttar Pradesh's politics, even within a party that has often projected itself as being above such considerations.
