Caste factor fails to dampen Modi wave

Lucknow/New Delhi: The Narendra Modi juggernaut comprehensively demolished the  “Mandal” politics of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
 With the BJP and its allies winning over 100 seats out of 120 in these two states, the  proponents of caste-based “Mandal” politics have reason to worry.

For over two decades “Mandal” politics dominated the Gangetic  plains of UP and Bihar. SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, BSP chief Mayawati, RJD’s Lalu Prasad Yadav and JD(U) leader Nitish  Kumar benefited hugely from this brand of politics.

This time the SP won five seats in UP, all places where Mulayam  Singh Yadav and his clan were in the fray. Mayawati’s BSP drew a blank. In 2009, the SP and BSP together won 42 of the state’s 80 seats. The rout of “Mandal” politics also blew caste leaders away in Bihar.

The ruling JD(U) won just two Lok Sabha seats, while the RJD only retained the four seats it won in 2009. JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav, self-styled icon of “Mandal” politics,  also lost from Madhepura to RJD “bahubali” (muscleman) Rajesh Ranjan.

The scale of the BJP win in UP and Bihar seem such that the  regional satraps like SP, BSP, JD(U), RJD, RLD may have to  reorient their politics to rediscover their touch with the people.

The Jats appear to have completely deserted the RLD, as party chief Ajit Singh himself not only lost from the Baghpat Lok Sabha seat to the rookie politician Satyapal Singh of the BJP but came third.

RJD chief Lalu Prasad’s wife Rabri Devi (Saran) and daughter Misa Bharti (Patliputra) were also trounced by their BJP rivals Rajiv Pratap Rudy and Ram Kripal Yadav respectively.