Winners and losers in times of political churn

In the early 1980s, the tallest Brahmin leader of northern India and the Congress, Kamalapati Tripathi, had suggested that the party leadership appoint a Dalit chief minister (CM)in Uttar Pradesh to stop the Dalit Shoshit Samaj Sangharsh Samiti (DS4) from mobilising Dalits.

- Sunita Aron

DS4 was Kanshi Ram's creation, which later grew into the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). Tripathi’s fears proved true as the BSP weaned Dalits away from the Congress that was, till then, ruling the country with the support of a coalition of Dalits, Brahmins and Muslims.

The Congress, despite the loss of Dalit votes, remained the first choice of Brahmins until Muslims left the party after the shilanyas (foundation laying) of the Ram temple in Ayodhya in 1989. Rajiv Gandhi and Narayan Dutt Tiwari were then the prime minister (PM) and Uttar Pradesh CM, respectively. Subsequently, the Brahmins moved to the BJP. Soon, the grand old party lost power in UP and Tiwari turned out to be the last Congress as well as Brahmin CM of UP.

Though Brahmins formed barely 5% of the country’s population, the Congress had rewarded them with posts and positions in lieu of their support. Several states in northern India had Brahmin CMs. The loss of office in the southern states in the 1960s did not hurt the community so much, until they started to lose influence in the Hindi heartland after Mandal politics took centre-stage. Their frustration over their marginalisation in the country's politics increased further after the demise of former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee, a Brahmin. Now, when the leadership of most parties is with the OBC and Dalits, the opinion makers of yesteryears find themselves on the political margins.