Before the 2019 polls, as a part of its campaign strategy, BJP has planned an involved outreach to the OBC and Dalit sections of the society. In a place, like India where 41% of the population is under the OBC category, their effective inclusion in the decision-making process is something which the party aims to achieve with this current strategy. The initiatives of the party have been evident when a circular was circulated widely in the Uttar Pradesh unit. The circular clearly stated:
“To enroll 20 members from the SC/ST and OBC categories (10 SC/ST and 10 OBC) through physical slips or missed calls.”
With these new initiatives, it is expected that around 16 lakh new recruitments from both the Dalit as well as the OBC section. The main aim behind this is to ‘deepen engagement’ of these sections of the population. It is also being considered as an effective poll strategy where it will help the party to recuperate for the loss caused by the grand alliance of Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party.
Earlier, the BJP’s aim to build new constituencies among the Dalits and OBC’s had unnerved the party’s traditional base in the upper caste and had started to give warnings to the party, especially from the poll-bound states of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
“The BJP campaigners in Madhya Pradesh, including Union ministers and prominent party leaders, have been confronted with an angry backlash from crowds on campaign trails. People from upper castes lament that their support to the BJP has been taken for granted,” said a BJP functionary.
In its project of inclusion, the party has prepared a form for the booth-level committee to fill up and enroll themselves. In the form, it is the events that should be celebrated are listed, like the birth anniversaries of Deen Dayal Upadhyaya and Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The form additionally asks for the list of 11 prominent castes in the vicinity of the booth, including the number of voters from each of those castes.