By Archana Sharma
Jaipur, Mar 26 (IANS): With the announcement of BJP Chittorgarh MP C.P. Joshi as the state president, the Brahmin politics has taken a centrestage in Rajasthan as political importance of the community is once again being discussed in the desert state.
Political leaders said that the BJP has tried to help one of its most important vote banks in Rajasthan, which is the Brahmin community, by announcing Joshi as the state president.
However, the big question is that how will the BJP manage other caste equations which will be affected by this decision.
It is no coincidence that Joshi became the state chief of the party. The political importance of the society can be gauged from the fact that many big leaders of the BJP-Congress attended the recently organised by the Brahmin Mahapanchayat in Jaipur where they demanded stronger political representation.
For the last many years, the community had a little representation in politics in both the parties, namely the Congress and BJP.
Earlier, between 2009 and 2013, Arun Chaturvedi was the party president for the BJP. Before him Mahesh Chandra Sharma, Lalit Kishore Chaturvedi, Bhanwarlal Sharma, Raghuveer Singh Kaushal and Harishankar Bhabhadra were the presidents. However, it is after nine years that the BJP has made a veteran from the Brahmin community as the state president.
On the other hand, the Congress got its previous president in Dr. C.P. Joshi. He served as the president between 2007 and 2011. Before him there were many state presidents, including B.D. Kalla, Girija Vyas, Girdhari Lal Vyas and Jaynarayan Vyas.
However, in the Congress, no Brahmin leader got a chance for this post for the last 12 years.
At present there are 17 Brahmin MLAs in Rajasthan. There are two cabinet ministers, Dr. BD Kalla and Dr. Mahesh Joshi. Also, there are two Brahmin MPs, namely C.P. Joshi and Ghanshyam Tiwari from the BJP out of which Joshi has been made the state chief by the BJP. At the same time, there is no Brahmin minister from Rajasthan at the Centre.
So all eyes are set to see if there will be a stronger representation of Brahmins in the desert state.
Meanwhile, as the 2023 Assembly elections are coming closer, along with political parties, various societies and organisations are also becoming active in Rajasthan. Leaders are also leaving no stone unturned to connect with the society and raise a pitch for better representation of their caste and communities.
If we analyse the last two-week scenario, the Jat and Brahmin communities have shown their strength by holding big meetings. While the Jat Mahakumbh took place in Jaipur on March 5, the Brahmin Mahapanchayat took place in Jaipur on March 19 itself. Now on April 2, a big panchayat of Rajputs will be held in Jaipur.
It is a wait and watch situation as to how the two parties -- BJP and Congress -- will work out on social engineering to get maximum electoral support.