Some are political veterans, others relative newcomers. Together, they will represent the new face of their community in Parliament
Manoj Kumar
A casual labourer’s son come to reside in Babu Jagjivan Ram’s long-time abode—that was a virtuous turn for the Grand Old Party. The seat had been with the BJP for a decade—under Chhedi Paswan, who’d first succeeded Jagjivan in 1989. And two defeats, in 2014 and 2019, had pushed his legatee Meira Kumar into retirement. Having opted to field her Cambridge PhD son Anshul Avijit from Patna Sahib, the Congress needed a new face for hilly, backward Sasaram. In came Manoj, with only a failed 2019 bid on his resume, but the times on his side. He recalls how his father would string him along while seeking an Indira Awas grant. “He thought the officials would take pity on me. They didn’t.” He has an awas now, the lower house of Parliament.
Govind Karjol
The BJP in Karnataka has cultivated a catchment area extending well beyond the caste elite. A refugee from the old Janata Dal, Karjol exemplifies that social range. His 2004 shift to saffron renewed what finally became a five-term run as MLA from his native northern Karnataka seat of Mudhol. Deputy CM from 2019-2021, his shift to this reserved seat brought redemptive salve after a 2023 rebuff from Dalits.
Chandrashekhar Azad
Politics, like everything else, lends itself to categories. Here, the man who dared to suffix ‘Ravan’ to his name rose from the badlands of western UP like a shining knight of emancipatory Dalit politics. His moustachioed, muscular bearing spoke power to the disempowered; a riposte in their own language for the old patricians. Ever since his newborn party made a singlehanded conquest of Nagina—against a quartet of big parties (BJP, SP-Congress,BSP)—he has rightly refused to be boxed into an exclusive ‘Dalit’ slot, though. Yes, Mayawati’s eclipse left a void for him, but he wouldn’t have a 51 per cent vote share if the elite castes hadn’t preferred him too, he says. Also, that the constitutional rights and values embodied by Ambedkar are meant for all. He exhibited his devotion to those by putting his neck on the line during the anti-CAA days. Shunned by the BSP once, and by the SP now, he bids fair to expand—and not just in UP. His Bhim Army counts 10 million members across India.
Awadhesh Prasad Pasi
This is where the script encountered its most heartless twist for the BJP. The new temple in Ayodhya stood, resplendent in its revanchism, right in the heart of this constituency—Hindutva’s chief votive offering to its devouts. But for those watching more closely, it wasn’t surprising that an old socialist won the kingdom, one who as a young man had thrown himself into the anti-Emergency tumult of the 1970s and been a solid piece of political earth ever since: MLA nine times, state minister six times. Known as the SP’s Dalit face, he prefers a more universalist tag. That spirit took him to INDIA’s front benches.
R.K. Chaudhary
A founding member of the BSP who ended up in the SP before the 2022 assembly polls—after a three-year trial period in the Congress—R.K. Chaudhary’s win against the BJP’s Kaushal Kishore was part of a larger statement Dalits made in UP.
Yogendra Chandolia
A BJP general secretary for Delhi, Chandolia is the party’s local Dalit face. A municipal councillor from Dev Nagar in Karol Bagh, he has also served as the mayor of North Delhi Municipal Corporation.
Courtesy : India Today
Note: This news is originally published in indiatoday.com and was used solely for non-profit/non-commercial purposes exclusively for Human Rights
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