Vinay Shankar Tiwari, the former BSP legislator from the Chillupar assembly seat in Gorakhpur who recently switched over to Samajwadi Party and son of strongman and Purvanchal politics heavyweight Hari Shankar Tiwari, said in an exclusive interview with News18.com that Brahmin dissent is not just limited to Purvanchal but is evident in entire Uttar Pradesh as the BJP government hasn’t done anything for the community. Edited excerpts:
After you switched over to the Samajwadi Party along with another big Brahmin leader, Rakesh Pandey, do you think this is going to impact the Brahmin voters in the Purvanchal region of the state?
If you look at the current condition of the Bharatiya Janata Party, there is a stampede going on. For example, we joined Samajwadi Party on December 12, and after five or six days the central leadership of the BJP in Delhi called all their Brahmin leaders and held a meeting in which they expressed their worries over the dissent in Brahmin voters. The BJP had cautioned its leaders about Brahmin voters shifting towards the Samajwadi Party… A person who was present in that meeting told me he said there that in the past five years they didn’t have any say even in local matters and how would they face the people now. Their own leaders like Laxmikant Bajpai were sidelined in the party. He has not been given a ticket this time. The BJP has been adopting double standards with Brahmins. They just seek votes of Brahmins
But what about a deputy chief minister from the Brahmin community in the BJP government?
That is welcome, but then there are incidents like the Bikru case, Gorakhpur’s Ankur Shukla case, Kabir Tiwari case in Basti, Vivek Tiwari case and even the murder of a Hindu Sabha leader in Lucknow. The atrocities and crimes against Brahmins are rampant all over the state. The Brahmins have suffered the most under this government in comparison to previous governments.
Any other specific issue why you think there is Brahmin dissent against the BJP?
This government has done nothing for the Brahmins. Even top seer Shankaracharya Vasudevanand Saraswati had said in the programme of the chief minister that the government had done nothing for Brahmins. The BJP just talks about Brahmins for their votes and nothing else. When there is a question about giving employment to Brahmins, whenever there is a question of developing the Sanskrit language, the BJP just vanishes from the scene. When you don’t listen to issues and problems faced by someone, then it is certain that person will become disillusioned with you. Today the Brahmins have abandoned the BJP.
But the Brahmins are also considered traditional voters of BJP…
If you conduct a survey anywhere in the state, you will come to know that Brahmins are abandoning the BJP. It is correct that the community has stood firmly with the BJP for many years, but if it had not left BJP then the party’s central leadership wouldn’t have expressed worries. The BJP central leadership had called a key meeting on this issue and it was all over the newspapers and social media. The central leadership of BJP is fed up with the ‘Thakurvaad’ in the state. It is not about Hindutva anymore, it is all about ‘Thakurvaad’ here in UP. The Brahmins have very well understood now that things are not in their favour in the BJP and that is why they are shifting towards Samajwadi Party now.
So will we see a Brahmin vs Thakur fight in Purvanchal this time?
This issue is being created by the government by adopting double standards towards Brahmins. The punishment for a Brahmin is different from a punishment for a Rajput for the same crime. This is a direct and clear insult of Brahmins.
So what will the Samajwadi Party do for Brahmins if voted to power?
We will ensure education and employment opportunities for them. We will also work for the development of the Sanskrit language. We will sit and speak to the Brahmin community leaders about their issues and resolve them at the earliest.
How do you take CM Yogi’s 80 vs 20 statement? Do you see it as a polarisation attempt in disguise?
The CM has said correctly that this election is of 80 vs 20, but the 80% chunk is against the BJP and only 20% was with the BJP. That 20% is also not clear now as you see there is a stampede-like situation in BJP with cabinet ministers, MLAs making a beeline to exit from the party. The situation in BJP is so bad today that the Samajwadi Party had to clearly say that we cannot take any more defectors. Have you ever seen such a situation when a party had to say that they can’t induct any more people? There was a long list of BJP leaders who wanted to switch to the Samajwadi Party.
What made you disenchanted with the BSP after almost completing your tenure as a BSP MLA?
It didn’t happen overnight and I am not alone who left the BSP. In 2017, a total of 19 people had become MLAs on BSP tickets, out of which only three are with the party now; 16 others have deserted the party. So this means that there must be a lack from the leadership side. If leaders don’t have access and can’t meet their top leadership then it is not good for any political party.
What are your views on chief minister Yogi Adtyanath contesting from the Gorakhpur (Sadar) seat?
The Samajwadi Party is going to win 300 plus seats this time in the UP assembly elections…
But your leadership is saying 400 seats…
Nothing better if we get 400 seats, but I am sure that we will cross 300 seats in any case. Today, when the CM has not got support from anywhere, then he must have thought that it is safe for him to contest from his hometown. People are fed up with the law and order situation, arrogance, Inflation and atrocities on weaker sections of society. Not even MLAs or MPs are being listened to. During Covid times, everyone saw those floating bodies in Ganga, people were forced to bury the dead as they could not get wood for last rites… The government was blind in arrogance as it had a huge mandate and thought it could abandon the common people.
So how are you taking up digital and door-to-door campaigns at a time when large gatherings are banned by the Election Commission due to Covid?
The campaigning is certainly not easy for people like us who are in rural areas and have to face internet and connectivity issues many times. We can’t rely much on the digital campaign and we are focusing more on door-to-door campaigns at the moment. We are moving from village to village in small groups of three to four people as per the guidelines of the Election Commission. Also, the BJP was scared of the turnout and support that the Vijay Rath Yatra by Akhilesh ji was getting. On the other hand, the BJP misused government machinery by bringing people working under MNREGA scheme as crowds for gatherings, also the government teachers were being harassed and pressurised. But they couldn’t match Akhilesh Yadav. After this, they resorted to ultimately banning all rallies through the Election Commission. People today have understood all the dirty tricks of the BJP and the results on March 10 will bring a change in the state.
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