Is this going to be the caste governance model put in place by the Bharatiya Janata Party for the future? So far the party has avoided appointing representatives of dominant castes in states. Vijay Rupani, who has just become Gujarat chief minister, is a Jain whereas the dominant challenge in the state comes from Patels (Patidars).
In Assam, Chief Minister Sarbanand Sonowal is from the Kachari tribe, only the second tribal to head the state after Jogen Hazarika in the 1970s. M L Khattar is a non-Jat chief minister in Haryana, a state that has only had Jat CMs in recent times - even Bhajan Lal was not really considered non-Jat although he was a Bishnoi.
Devendra Fadnavis in Maharashtra is a Brahmin, though the state has had more Maratha chief ministers than non-Marathas.
In Jharkhand for the first time ever, a non-tribal, Raghubar Das, is the party’s CM in a predominantly tribal state. The same goes for Chhattisgarh where Raman Singh has been at the helm of affairs for sometime now. Whether this model will be replicated in Goa, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh remains to be seen.
