Brahman politics of Madhya Pradesh | N.D.Sharma

Published on 23-07-2008 In General

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Brahman politics of Madhya Pradesh

In a Panchatantra tale, a barber goes to an abode of Jain monks, pays his obeisance and reverently invites them to partake of their meal at his house. The chief monk retorts somewhat irritably: "Shraavak, you are a knowledgeable person. Are we like Brahmans that you invite us to your place to eat?"

Inviting Brahmans and serving them the choicest delicacies specially prepared for them on all occasions, joyous as well as not joyous, has been part of the Indian tradition for ages. However, a casual reference to this tradition has created a minor crisis in Madhya Pradesh and made a member of the Shivraj Singh Chauhan cabinet virtually run for cover.

After inaugurating a forest project and planting some saplings in Bhopal, minister of forest Kunwar Vijay Shah, a tribal, observed in his speech that it was better to plant a tree than spend money on feeding Brahmans because the ancestors would be more pleased if saplings were planted.

This was enough to enrage the Brahman community. The State unit of the Samajwadi Party was the first to jump into the fray for the simple reason that it is headed by a Brahman, Narayan Tripathi. He promptly embarked upon the task of getting influential Brahmans --- intellectuals, MLAs, MPs, journalists, et al --- together to stand up to this onslaught on the honour and integrity of the Brahman community.

State Congress spokesman K.K.Mishra described the forest minister's "reprehensible" remark as an insult to the entire Hindu community. He said that the remark had deeply hurt the sentiments of those subscribing to Sanatana dharma and demanded that Vijay Shah should tender an apology to the Hindu community.

Bharatiya Vipra Samaj submitted a memorandum to chief minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan to register its strong protest over Shah's remark. Its State president Dinesh Sharma said in the memorandum that the State's ministers had earlier also been making deplorable comments about the Brahman community; if this was not stopped forthwith, the community would launch a militant agitation against the State government. Aryavarta Brahman Mahasabha burnt an effigy of the forest minister for "insulting" the entire Brahman community.

The Assembly elections being round the corner, no politician, particularly one who is holding an important position in the government, can afford to antagonise a community which, though numerically not very strong, wields considerable influence on various sections of the electorate. The BJP's two Brahman leaders, Lakshmi Narayan Sharma and Raghunandan Sharma took the opportunity of brokering peace between Vijay Shah and the Bharatiya Vipra Samaj on the Guru Poornima Day. A Guru Poornima function was held in a posh restaurant where Shah presented to the Brahmans shawls and coconuts (considered auspicious) and touched their feet. He assured the Brahmans present that he has profound respect for the community and could never think of hurting their sentiments; still, if he had unwittingly hurt their feelings, he had no hesitation in apologising.

It did assuage the hurt of some Brahmans, but not of all. While the Bharatiya Vipra Samaj was satisfied by the forest minister's apology, another organisation of the Brahmans, Akhil Bharatiya Sarva Brahman Samiti, found Shah's apology as not tendered in a proper manner.

Its president Rajiv Tripathi said that Shah had made the "insulting" remark at a public function and he should, therefore, tender the apology also at a public function. The Samiti passed a resolution announcing an award of Rs 5001 to whoever blackens the face of Shah.

It was sheer bad luck of Vijay Shah that he made what he considered an innocuous observation at a time when the Brahmans are trying to assert themselves in politics in Madhya Pradesh. It started with Mayawati's impressive victory, with the help of the Brahman advisers, in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. She has since been sending community leaders, including Brahman leaders, to Madhya Pradesh in an attempt to spread the BSP base in different sections. The Congress suddenly realised the importance of Brahmans and made Suresh Pachauri president of the Pradesh Congress Committee. The other parties also started seeing hitherto hidden virtues among Brahmans.

The BJP, keen as it is to retain power even after the elections, made a colossus compromise when it welcomed back into the fold Raghunandan Sharma who had joined Uma Bharati's Bharatiya Jana Shakti after castigating the Shivraj Singh Chauhan government in the most stinking terms. In a series of letters spread over a considerable period, Sharma, then vice-president of the State BJP described the State government as being run by touts and power brokers. In one of the letters, he observed that "corruption is rampant in the government from top to the bottom" and that it was "so depressing to see how the money from the transport, mining and other departments is flowing into the party funds". Sharma was not only re-admitted into the party was ensured a berth in Rajya Sabha in the recently held by-elections.

The chief minister took another step to woo the Brahmans by sanctioning Rs 11 crore for development of Janapav (in the Malwa region) where Parashuram, the mythical leader of the Brahmans, was said to have been born. For this he got himself felicitated by a little known organisation of the Brahmans. Another organisation of the Brahmans was quick to point out that there was no evidence that Parashuram was born at Janapav.

While the Congress is yet to harness the Brahman power in the faction-ridden organisation, the BJP is facing a different type of problem. It has several Brahmans at senior levels in the party and they are trying to gain the supremacy, which they consider as their due, in a subtle way. Raghunandan Sharma, who was considered rather docile before he had quit the party to throw his lot with Uma Bharati, seems to be spearheading the campaign.

Raghunandan Sharma's stray remarks made in public gives him out. He never hides the fact that he has been taken back into the BJP because of his being a Brahman. Recently he called upon the Brahmans to carry a Shastra (weapon) along with the Shaastra (book of knowledge) in order to subdue the Kshatriyas. (Parashuram, whom the Brahmans consider their leader, is described as having wiped out the Kshatriyas 21 times; he is portrayed as an expert in both the Shaastra and the use of Shastra). Sharma's remark has created a stir in the party which has Kshatriyas heading both, the government and the organisation, in the State.

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