I

nUt
tarPr
adesh,
thecr
uxofwel
far
epol
it
ics

TheBharatiy
aJanataPart
y(BJP)isfighti
ngtheUttarPradeshAssemblyelecti
onsont womain
pl
anks:Hindutv
aandsocialwelfar
e.Thesetwinpil
larsoftheBJP'spoli
ti
calmobil
isat
ionare
oft
entr
eat edassepar
atecategori
es,anal
yti
cal
ly
.Hence, thedeeperpol
iti
calandi
deological
cr
uxofBJP' swelf
arepol
it
icshaslargel
ybeenmi ssed.

Mor
ethanpopul
i
sm

However,amor ecar efulanal

ysi
swouldr evealhowt heBJP'spart
icul
arbrandofwelfar
epoli
ti
cs
i
snotmer elyelectoralpopuli
sm.Especial
lyinU.P.,
theBJP’swel f
areregime—centredon
Dir
ectBenefitTransfers(DBTs)—hasbeendesi gnedaspar tofanideol
ogical
proj
ectthat
seekstoreshapet hepoliti
cali
dent
it
yoft hewel f
arereci
pientsandneutral
iset
hebasisonwhich
asuccessfulpoli
ticalchall
engetoHindutvacanbemount ed.

Inani nfl
uenti
alwork,t
hepol i
ticalsci
ent i
st, KanchanChandr a, haddemonst ratedthebasisof
thesuccessofet hnicorcast e-basedpar ties, usi
ngt heBahuj anSamaj Party(BSP)asacase
study.TheessenceofPr ofessorChandr a’sar gumentwast hatv otersmainlydonotv otef
or
ethni
cpar ti
esoutofdeeppsy chologicalatt achment s,butbecauset heyexpecttoreceive
greatergovernmentbenef it
sf rom theirco- ethnicrepresentati
v es.Sincegov er
nment
programmeswer e/havebeenmar redbyenor mousbur eaucrat i
cdiscreti
on,inadequate
i
nf or
mat i
onandpoort ranspar ency ,v
ot ersf oundthatt hemostr eli
ablewayt oaccesswel f
are
benefitswaspatronaget ransact i
onswi tht heirco-ethnicparties.Thus,shechar acter
isedIndi
a
asa“ patronagedemocr acy ”
.

Thesepatron-cli
entrelati
onshi pshavebeenacent r
alpar
tofU.P.’spoli
ti
cssincethet i
meofthe
Congress’
sdomi nance,whengov ernmentbenefi
tswererout
edt hroughtheupper-caste
contr
oll
edpar tymachi ne.Whenbackwar dcasteparti
es—theSamaj wadiPart
y(SP)andt he
BSP—camet ohel mtheSt at
e, t
hegroupsthatweresupport
ivewer esimi
larl
ymobi l
ised
thr
oughcast e-basedpat ronagenet wor
ks.Castethusbecamet hemostsal i
entpoli
ticali
dent
it
y,
thearbi
terofaccesst ot heSt ateandhencethebasisofpoli
ti
calcompet i
ti
on.

Di
rectcasht
ransf
ers
Thewel far
eregi
meinsti
tutedbyt he‘
doubleengine’gover
nmentofU. P.seekstochangeal
lthat
bydowngr adi
ng,i
fnotel
imi nati
ng,t
her ol
eofcastenetworksinaccessingmostwelfare
benefit
s.Andwelfar
ebenef i
tshavebeenr econcept
uali
sed,t
oal ar
geext ent
,asdir
ectcash
transf
ers.Themiddl
emenhav ebeenreplacedbyadi gi
tal
regi
me—t heJanDhan-Aadhaar
Mobi l
e(JAM)tri
ad—est ablishi
ngadirectconnecti
onbetweentheSt at
eandt hewelf
are
recipi
ents.

Atpr esent,t
heU. P.gov er
nmenti sdi r
ectlypassingmoneyt otheaccount sofpeopl eon36
schemest hroughdi r
ectbankt ransfer.Thisnotonl yincludescent r
all
ysponsor edschemessuch
asPr adhanMant ri
KisanSamman( PM Kisan)Ni dhiYojana, Pr
adhanMant r
iUjjwal aYojana,and
Pr adhanMant riJanAr ogyaYojana( PM- JAY)/Ay ushmanBhar at,butalsov ari
ousal l
owances
disbursedbyt heSt ategov er
nment .Af ewmont hsago, t
heYogi Adityanathgov ernment
disbursed₹1, 100t opar entsforpurchasingschool uniforms.InJanuar y,₹1,000wer ereport
edly
transferr
edt ot heaccount sof1.5croreunor ganisedwor ker
sint heState.Ev eni ntangibl
easset
creation,suchashousesandt oil
ets,theGov ernment ’sroleisli
mi t
edt otransfer r
ingmoneyi nto
theaccountofbenef ici
aries.

Thesecashhandout s(alongwi thanexpandedanddi git

isedprovisi
oni ngofr at
ions)hav ebeen
descr i
bedashav i
ngcr eatedanewpol it
icalconst i
tuencyfortheBJPt ermedasl abarthior
'
wel f
arer ecipi
ents'.Thiswoul dbeasomewhati naccurateinter
pretation.Thepol iti
calident
it
y
thattheBJPseekst onur t
ureamongt hesev otersisstil
laHindupol i
ti
calidentit
y .Whatwelfare
provisi
onsi nauni v ersalandpr ogrammat icmannerdoi st odil
utethepol i
ticalsalienceofcaste
i
dent i
ty,cleari
ngt hewayf oraHi ndutvadiscour seforthepoliti
caltransformat i
onofbackwar d
castesandDal it
si ntoHi ndus.Thus,bothwel farepol i
ti
csandHi ndut vawor kintandem i n
fashioningasi ngularpol it
icalconsti
tuencyofHi nduvoters.

Pat
ronagenet
wor
ks

Ofcour se,noneofthisistosaythatU.P.hasreachedsomepost -
patr
onageut opia,
letal
onea
post-casteone.Patronagenetworksaresti
llwellent
renchedinthepolit
icaleconomyofU. P.,
helpi
ngf unnelarangeofpubl i
cgoodssuchasgov er
nmentcont ract
sinr uralinfr
astr
uctur
e.A
studyin2018oft hePr adhanMant r
iGram SadakYojana( PMGSY)byr esear chersatPri
nceton
Universit
y,hadrevealedthatwhenMember soft heLegisl
ati
veAssembl y( MLAs)anddi str
ict
coll
ectorssharedasur name,acont r
actorwit
hthesamesur namewasmor elikel
ytobe
awardedacont ract.

St
il
l,
thedi
spl
acementofpat
ronagenet
wor
ksf
rom l
argeswat
hesofwel
far
edel
i
ver
yisa
quali
tati
vechangewhi
chi
sshapi
ngt
hepat
ter
nsofpol
i
tical
mobi
l
isat
ionoft
heBJPi
nU.
P.i
n
fourdist
inctways.

Fir
st,t
hepar t
yhasbeenweakenedatt helocallevelwhereMLAsanddi str
ictpartyfunctionar
ies
havelostthei
rpowerasi nter
cessor
sandmedi atorsinthewel f
aredeli
veryprocess.A
centr
ali
sedbur eaucrati
cstructur
eov er
seesthesewel fareschemes.Ther oleofthel ocalpart
y
machineryismer elytoactasamar ketingwingf ortheseschemes, whichareper sonall
y
i
dentif
iedwithMr .AdityanathandPrimeMi ni
sterandBJPl eaderNarendraModi .Thus, t
he
patr
on-cli
entrelat
ionshipatthegroundl ev
elisdissolvedinfavourofbuil
dingupt heper sonas
ofthetwinbenev olentr
ulersatthetop,backedbyamassi veadv er
ti
singblit
z,andunderwhose
namest heBJPseeksi t
sv otes.

Second, t
heBJPi slessdependentoncul ti
vati
ngaspect rum ofbackwar dcasteleader shi
pt o
mobili
sebackwar dcast ev ot
es,thanitwasi nthepreviouselecti
onwheni thadinduct eda
numberofsuchl eader sfrom otherpart
ies.Manyoft heseleader s,suchasSwami Pr
asad
Maury aandDharam Si nghSaini,havenowl eftthepartycompl ai
ningofhav ingreceivedl i
ttl
e
substanti
vepower .Thepar tybeli
evesitcanweat herthisexodusasi thasmanagedt ocr eateit
s
ownpar tybaseamongt hesecommuni ti
es,fulf
il
li
ngtheirmat eri
alneeds/ welf
areand
psychological
needst hroughHi ndutv
a.

Negl
ectofpubl
i
cgoods

Thir
d,thefl
ipsideofl
avishspendi
ngoncasht ransfershasmateri
ali
sedi nanabjectneglectof
publi
cgoodssuchaseducat ionandhealt
h.Whi l
eitistr
uethatt
hest at
ecapacityinthese
sector
sinU.P.wasalway squit
epoor,t
hedramat i
ccol l
apseoft
heheal t
h-caresectorduringt he
secondwav eofCOVID-19didprovi
deapol i
ti
calnarrat
ivetot
heOpposi t
ion.Thereisalsol i
tt
le
room l
efttoexpandtheStatesect
ortoamel i
orat
et heunemploymentcrisis,
anotherhot-
but ton
i
ssueoft hi
selecti
on.

Fourth,theBJP’ swel f
ar epol it
icsisonitsweakestgr oundwher ethepresenceofbur eaucr
ati
c
i
nterfaceandor ganisedi nterestsareunav oidabl
e, suchasi nthefar
m sect or
.Bi gfarmer ssti
ll
organisethemsel vesi ntouni onsandgett hebestdeal outoftheGovernment .Itisnota
coincidencethatt hesepat ronagenet workswer ethent hemai ntar
getsoft hef ar
mr eformlaws,
andi twasalsot hesesect ionst hatwereatt heforefrontofthefarmerprotests.Whent hePri
me
Ministerspokel astweeki nPar l
iament,herepeatedlyment ionedsmallfarmer s,tr
yingt obypass
thebi gandor ganisedf armer si nhisoutreach.Thesesmal landmarginalfarmer sareal sothe
corebenef i
ciari
esofNar endraModi ’
sfl
agshi pschemet owardsthefarmingcommuni ty—an
annual
₹6,
000t
ransf
ert
hrought
hePM Ki
sanSammanNi
dhi
.

Evenast heBJPquit eover

tl
yindulgesinelaborat
ecastestrat
egiesforelect
ioneer
ing,
it
maint
ainst hati
tistheonlypart
yabov ejati
vadorcastefavouri
ti
sm.Italsotri
estoconvincet
he
subal
terncastesthatthecashtransfer
st heyhavecomet orouti
nelyexpectareanoutcomeof
the‘
doubl eengi
ne’governmentinU. P.
,andtheref
ore,
mi ghtcomet oast opunderanewr egi
me.

TheideologicalchallengethattheBJP’sHindut
vafacesinSt at
essuchasU. P.ist
oholddown
theresurgenceofmul ti
plepoli
ti
cali
denti
ti
esamongt heelectorat
e.Itisanenormoustask,
and
thussocialwelfarepol i
ti
cshasbeenmel dedwithHindutvaforextr
ar ei
nfor
cement.Thi
sisthe
i
deologicalcruxoft heBJP’swel f
arepoli
ti
cs,whoseeffect
ivenessisbeingstr
esstest
edinthe
castecauldronoft heUt t
arPradeshelect
ions.

Asi
m Al
ii
sapol
i
tical
resear
cherandcol
umni
stbasedi
nDel
hi