After Lok Sabha polls setback, how the BJP is trying to make an outreach to Dalit voters

Trilochan Singh was in a hurry when he was being interviewed by Scroll over the phone on October 30. A Vishwa Hindu Parishad functionary in Uttar Pradesh’s Ambedkar Nagar, Singh was in charge of distributing earthen lamps and firecrackers for Diwali in Dalit-dominated localities of the town.

This was part of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s programme to “awaken sanatan dharma” among Dalits, who make up for nearly one-fourth of the population of Ambedkar Nagar, Singh said.

In the fortnight leading up to Diwali, his organisation and other Hindutva bodies have held “dharm sammelans” or religious congregations in Dalit-dominated localities across the country at which religious leaders delivered sermons and shared meals with members of the Scheduled Caste community, Singh told Scroll. There was nothing political about this Dalit outreach programme, he insisted – it was entirely a religious affair.

Not everyone is convinced of this, though. Dhananjay Gautam, a volunteer of the National Confederation of Dalit and Adivasi Organisations in Ambedkar Nagar, told Scroll that since the Bharatiya Janata Party suffered an electoral setback earlier this year in the Lok Sabha polls in seats reserved for the Scheduled Castes, Hindutva organisations have been on overdrive to make amends.

Events such as dharm sammelans are being orchestrated by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh,...

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