With the sound of 2027 assembly elections, a new chessboard of caste and social equations has started being laid in the politics of Uttar Pradesh. Samajwadi Party is now moving ahead from its traditional Muslim-Yadav (M-Y) equation and is working rapidly on the strategy of wooing the Brahmin community. In this series, a big meeting of prominent leaders of Brahmin community, MLAs, former MLAs, MPs and former MPs has been called at the SP headquarters in Lucknow on Wednesday, June 17.
SP President Akhilesh Yadav himself is monitoring this campaign. The responsibility of the meeting has been handed over to Ballia MP Sanatan Pandey, while Leader of Opposition Mata Prasad Pandey will preside over it. Former Ayodhya MLA Pawan Pandey, Prof. Many leaders including Abhishek Mishra, Kushal Tiwari, Vinay Tiwari, Baijnath Dubey and Santosh Pandey have been given different responsibilities.
In the meeting, the outline of the proposed huge Brahmin conference in Lucknow on August 5, the birth anniversary of socialist thinker and former Union Minister Janeshwar Mishra, will be decided. The party is seeing this not just as a tribute program but as a platform to give a political message to the Brahmin community. SP leaders believe that this will be the biggest effort to increase organizational and ideological dialogue among the Brahmin community before the 2027 elections.
How effective is Brahmin vote in UP?
The Brahmin population in Uttar Pradesh is considered to be around 13 percent. It may not be the largest vote bank in terms of numbers, but in terms of political influence it is considered an “opinion maker” and “kingmaker”. The special thing is that the Brahmin population is in villages and cities. Brahmin voters are in a position to play a decisive role in about 100 to 115 assembly seats in Western, Purvanchal, Awadh, Bundelkhand and Central UP. Apart from this, Brahmins are believed to have influence on most of the seats. Political history also confirms this.
In 2007, a large section of Brahmins sided with Mayawati’s “Brahmin-Dalit” social alliance. In 2012, a part of this class inclined towards Samajwadi Party. After this, in 2017 and 2022, BJP retained the Brahmin vote on a large scale on the basis of Hindutva, organization and leadership.
SP claims- Brahmins are angry with BJP
Samajwadi Party claims that dissatisfaction within the Brahmin community has increased during the BJP government. Party leaders allege that issues like controversies related to Shankaracharyas, alleged misbehavior with some famous Brahmin leaders and saints, questions raised regarding the deaths of Brahmin youth in encounter incidents, complaints regarding representation in the government system and the donation box issue of Ayodhya Ram temple have created resentment.
Akhilesh Yadav is continuously alleging that BJP is working to weaken Sanatan Dharma and its traditions. In recent months, he has raised the issue of respect for the Brahmin community, autonomy of religious institutions and the role of the priestly class in several forums.
Soft Hindutva and PDA experiment
Political analyst Rajendra Kumar believes that SP is now working on a dual strategy. On the one hand, the PDA is strengthening the backward, Dalit, minority formula, while on the other hand, it is also trying to include a section of the upper caste including Brahmins. Akhilesh Yadav’s recent statements and increasing activism in religious events are being seen as SP’s experiment with “soft Hindutva”. The party is trying to give the message that it is not limited to caste politics only but is also in favor of respect for Sanatan traditions and Brahmin society.
Senior journalist Rajendra Kumar says that Samajwadi Party is not organizing a Brahmin conference for the first time. Earlier in 2016, Mulayam Singh Yadav had handed over the responsibility of the conference on the occasion of Parshuram Jayanti to former Ayodhya MLA Pawan Pandey and Unchahar MLA Manoj Pandey. During the time of Netaji, there were Brahmin leaders like Janeshwar Mishra and Brij Bhushan Tiwari and their views were listened to. SP is preparing to kill BJP with BJP’s tactics.
BJP suffers loss due to donation theft
Rajendra Kumar says that BJP suffered a lot due to the donation theft in Ram temple. The agenda of connecting the Sarvas, religious people and saints got a setback. On the other hand, BJP is demanding from Akhilesh the account of the donations for Babri Masjid. He should give the account of the 80% donations that VHP is taking. Akhilesh’s people are now going from village to village and spreading the word that a big scam has been done in donations and its account is not even being given.
Now caste equations no longer work.. BJP said
Regarding SP’s Brahmin conference, BJP spokesperson Rakesh Tripathi said that SP has been doing politics of MY equation for a long time in which it came to power in UP by tying the equations of caste and religion, but now caste equations do not work, religious mobilization does not work, that is why now they have come to entertain people with the new name of PDA. There will be no mention of the upper caste community in this PDA. SP especially does the work of instigating Vrishavvaman against Brahmins and Kshatriyas.
He further said that in such a situation, when he is uniting the Brahmin community, will the intellectual community not ask questions on the comments made on Brahmins? Will he not ask why the Samajwadi Party, while in power, gave priority only to people of a particular caste and religion? Why do they continuously insult the upper caste community, these questions are serious and the Samajwadi Party does not have the answers to these questions.
Nowadays Brahmins are completely angry – SP
At the same time, SP Pravka Professor Abhishek Mishra said that Janeshwar Mishra taught the socialists the path of socialism. To take people along, to walk with others by tying them with the thread of love. Taught the way to stand with the suffering and insulted. Together we are preparing for the birth anniversary of Janeshwar Mishra. The environment that is there today, whether it is a fake encounter or an act of insulting people. BJP has done the work of insulting every class especially Brahmins, whether it is about Shankaracharya or about pulling the braids of Batukas, about dragging them and beating them, about killings of Brahmins, nowadays Brahmins are completely angry.
He further said that the Brahmins of Uttar Pradesh are angry at the praise given to BJP till date and is ready to teach them a lesson. I have made up my mind that this time it is necessary to send a message to the BJP that the Brahmins of Uttar Pradesh are completely with the Samajwadi Party and are going to form a majority government in 2027 in which they will get respect, strength and participation. You will remember how many Brahmin ministers there were in the Samajwadi government, how many posts they held, how much power they were given, even the Speaker was a Brahmin, Mata Prasad Pandey, who has been made the Leader of Opposition by the Samajwadi Party even today.
What is the challenge before BJP?
However, for BJP, the Brahmin community is still one of its strongest social bases. The party’s organizational structure, Hindutva politics and power influence at both the central and state levels give it an edge. At the same time, Bahujan Samaj Party has also been trying to include this class with itself by organizing Brahmin conferences from time to time.
Despite this, political experts believe that if SP is successful in making a dent in even 20 to 30 percent votes of the Brahmin community, then it can impact dozens of seats. Especially in those areas where the contest is direct between BJP and SP.
Will Brahmin vote become ‘kingmaker’ again?
The history of politics in Uttar Pradesh shows that Brahmin voters have often played a decisive role during changes in power. His inclination was seen with BSP in 2007, SP in 2012 and BJP in 2017-22. In such a situation, SP’s activism before the 2027 elections is an indication that the party is considering the Brahmin community as an important link in the path to power.
In the coming months, it will become clear whether SP’s Brahmin outreach is able to make a real dent in BJP’s social equations or whether Brahmin vote once again stands firmly with BJP. But it is certain that in the fight of 2027, Brahmin politics is going to be one of the most talked about election issues of Uttar Pradesh.
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