Mayawati’s social engineering is in full play in Allahabad district which sends the highest number of MLAs to the state assembly. Here, the brahmins have deserted both Congress and SP to flock to the BSP. Congress leader Ashok Bajpayee, a brahmin, joined the BSP; SP leader and chairperson of the Rajya Mahila Ayog Ranjana Bajpayee is canvassing for her son Harshvardhan Bajpayee who is a BSP candidate. The same is true of Muslims: Ammar Rizvi, Congress leader, is canvassing for his son Meesam Rizvi, a BSP candidate.

To prepare the ground for her new strategy, Mayawati brought in a philosophical change: from bahujan samaj to sarvajan samaj — an indication of the renunciation of cleavage-based exclusionary politics and acceptance of assimilation-based inclusionary politics. So, the structural metamorphosis was backed by ideological change. This was reflected in the ticket allocation. The BSP gave tickets to 86 brahmins as against 36 in 2002.

Are brahmins really voting for the BSP in these elections? By all indications, they are. They are not only voting in constituencies where a brahmin is a BSP candidate, they are also voting for the party in constituencies where a non-brahmin is a BSP candidate.

The BJP too attempted ‘apex social engineering’ by bringing the thakur-brahmin-OBC (Rajnath-Kesarinath Tripathi-Kalyan) combination at the top. But Mayawati outwitted the party by combining ‘apex social engineering’ (Mayawati-Satish Mishra-Naseemuddin) with ‘social engineering from below’. It seems to have paid off. In the phases completed so far, the party has attracted 19 per cent Muslims, 16 per cent brahmins, 14 per cent jats and 32 per cent lower OBCs.

... contd.