Assembly elections: Brouhaha over Brahmin votes in Uttar Pradesh

The SP's and the BSP's assiduous wooing of Brahmins created a perception that the community had now become a tilting factor in the elections

As every principal political player in Uttar Pradesh makes a beeline for the Brahmin votes before the Assembly elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that has retained the bulk of the community’s votes since 1989, barring interregnums in 2007 and 2012, is worried. The BJP’s quandary over keeping Ajay Mishra Teni, junior home minister, in the Union government stems from the fear of upsetting the Brahmins. Since 2017, the Yogi Adityanath dispensation has been criticised on various counts for “shortchanging” Brahmins after getting their votes, an important reason being the community’s alleged under-representation in the Centre and the state. Teni,