Meet Amit Shah, The Man Who Once Again Did The Poll Math Right And Solved the Caste Equations For BJP

A few would be familiar with Khadagvanshi Kshatriyas. the small community of peasants, they get dwarfed by castes with greater numbers and were mostly overlooked by political parties.

BCCL

Community elders were, therefore, surprised two days before the area went to polls in 2014 when they were told by local BJP members that Amit Shah wanted to visit them. Shah knew what he was doing. The concentration of the community in western and central UP makes it crucial to the outcome in certain Lok Sabha constituencies.

In the meeting, Shah invoked former UP CM Kalyan Singh, who is held in esteem by his hosts, and spoke of Narendra Modi's development message to try to persuade the Khadagvanshis to vote for BJP.

The effort paid off, with the community agreeing to enter the saffron tent.Yet, it did not benefit BJP greatly because the message could not be conveyed to all members of the community in time. This time, Shah made it a point to connect with Khadagvanshi elders well before polling day and ensured that 600 youth were despatched on motorcycles to take the panchayat's endorsement of BJP to all members of the community.

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The win is the result of hundreds of personal interventions by Shah to create a large social coalition. When the last round of polling closed, BJP sources said such initiatives could have boosted the party's chances in at least 100 constituencies. A tireless slogger, known for his hands-on style and an unwavering belief in micro-management, Shah emphasised - this time more remorselessly than in 2014 - on winning potential rather than reputation and age. The decision to bench Shyamdeo Rai Chaudhary, who had won the Varanasi seat seven times in a row, was taken despite Shah's personal regard for the man.

The decision to field Avatar Singh Bhadana, former Congress MP from Faridabad in Haryana, in western UP raised eyebrows. Shah went ahead because he needed to rally Gujjars around BJP, a vital necessity at a time when there was a fear that the Jats might drift away. The decision not to project a CM candidate was taken because of Shah's belief that BJP could ride on Modi's popularity while avoiding getting sucked into caste animosity.

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His decision to admit many members from other parties, particularly from BSP, was mocked by rivals who said the opportunism showed that BJP lacked bench strength of its own. Shah, however, felt that peeling away BSP's MLAs, especially important ones like R K Chaudhary and Swami Prasad Maurya, was necessary to undercut the perception about Mayawati being the main challenge and to get it cast as a party of Jatavs.Likewise, non-Yadav SP legislators were welcomed to frame SP as a Yadav outfit, a point that was harped on consistently by local campaigners among other backward communities.