As Congress woos Yadavs in Madhya Pradesh, Shivraj Chouhan takes a Lord Krishna path

The CM said the development of places linked with Krishna is a “duty and not a matter of politics”. “The development of Lord Krishna’s places of worship in the state will inspire every community because Shri Krishna belongs to everyone and the whole world is contained in him,” he said.

Chouhan also said that after taking inspiration from Krishna, the Yadav community has progressed and has carved a special place for itself in the country.

Lauding Yadavs for making “contribution in every field of development including agriculture, milk production, cow-rearing, country’s security and sports”, Chouhan went on to assure the community that it would be given “due representation” in the state.

The principal Opposition Congress however dismissed Chouhan’s announcement as a “move to placate the Yadav community” in the wake of the grand old party’s focus on developing the OBC leadership led by Yadavs.

Not shying away from religious symbolism, the Congress had pledged to develop religious sites connected to Hindu gods. In its manifesto for the 2018 Assembly polls, the Congress had promised development of the “Ram Van Gaman path trekked by Lord Ram during his exile”.

The Congress has now said that Chouhan’s proposal to develop the Krishna sites was out of the “BJP government’s insecurity” as the former has “increasingly managed to neutralise the BJP’s Hindutva card”.

The Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC)’s president and ex-CM Kamal Nath’s consistent projection of himself as a devout Hanuman follower is also said to have helped the Congress shake off the BJP’s allegations of the party being “anti-Hindu”.

Some influential Yadav leaders recently switched to the Congress from the BJP. A loyalist of Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia from Shivpuri, Baijnath Singh Yadav, cut his ties with him as he took out a 700-car rally on June 14 to join the Congress in Bhopal. Another BJP leader Yadvendra Singh Yadav joined the Congress fold in March.

Accounting for 14 per cent population, the Yadav community is considered to be significantly influential in Madhya Pradesh. The BJP has traditionally relied on the OBCs’ support to win the polls in the state. Apart from Chouhan, there have been two other BJP CMs from the OBCs over the last two decades, of which late Babu Lal Gaur, who served as the CM during 2004-05, was a Yadav leader.

The Yadav community is largely concentrated in Bundelkhand, with as many as 29 Assembly seats (of the state’s total 230 seats) in the region dominated by it.

Former MPCC chief Arun Yadav has been touring the Bundelkhand region extensively now. He is the son of late Subhash Yadav, who was the deputy CM in the Digvijay Singh-led Congress government during 1993-98.

During his visits, Arun has been reaching out to his community, their local leaders and volunteers, and firming up strategies on creating a Yadav leadership within the Congress that could take on the BJP in the region.

“We had an OBC leadership in the state when my father was the deputy CM. Then the BJP leadership have three CMs from the OBC community, including Uma Bharti, Gaur and Chouhan. The Yadav community are the key player in Assembly polls. We are trying to gather many leaders from them. It is very important to build their leadership in the Congress. We did this during the 2018 Assembly elections and won. We will repeat the same formula again,” Arun told The Indian Express.

Senior Congress leaders from the Yadav community are hoping that their efforts will bear fruits in the upcoming polls.

Damodar Singh Yadav, MP Congress vice-president and All India Yadav Mahasabha general secretary, told The Indian Express, “There are some leaders who want to join the Congress because they have figured out that the BJP will lose in these elections. Then there are those who are disgruntled with the BJP leadership. We want to work on these leaders and hope to accommodate their ambitions in the party.”

One of the main strategies of the Congress to woo OBCs is to remind them of the 27 per cent reservation for them while claiming that the Kamal Nath government had implemented it during its brief stint before a rebellion by Scindia and his group of MLAs in March 2020 toppled it. “Yadav community does not get swayed by communal politics. They align with those who will provide them with reservation. This is our way forward…there is a OBC movement picking up in Bundelkhand, zabardast mahaul hai (there is a great atmosphere),” Damodar said.

The Congress leaders in the Bundelkhand region have also been trying to capitalise on the tension between the Scindia loyalists in the BJP and the saffron party old-timers in the hope of bringing some of them to the Congress camp.

The BJP has been involved in trouble-shooting in the Bundelkhand region as Yadav leaders have begun to openly air their grievances.

Guna MP K P Yadav is a former Scindia loyalist, who had joined the BJP and defeated him (when Scindia was with the Congress) in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections by a huge margin. He has been regularly complaining to the party leadership at the state and central levels about being ignored at various government events.

When asked about the Congress outreach to the Yadav community, a BJP leader said: “There is always scope for dialogue in the BJP, unlike the Congress which is run by a family. We are talking to all leaders and listening to their grievances. The Congress tried to bring 27 per cent (OBCs) reservation but that was challenged in the court, they could not implement it. We developed leaders from OBCs over decades, that is not going away soon.”

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BJP spokesperson Pankaj Chaturvedi said, “Congress believes in the politics of appeasement. We want to end caste politics and they still keep seeing the Yadav community as a vote bank. Our plans to develop religious sites is in line with what the central government is doing across the country. If we protect our religious sites then our country will be protected. There is no politics in this.”