“Voting this time will be on the basis of Brahmin swabhiman, self-respect,” said Kunal Chaturvedi, 27. “Vikas, development, is a separate issue.”
Kunal, a teacher in Uttar Pradesh’s Gorakhpur, is one of 80,000 Brahmin voters in Chillupar constituency, which goes to the polls on March 3. With 25,000 Bhumihars, 40,000 Yadavs, and 12,000 Nishads, Chillupar is a “power centre” for the Brahmin community, and has had a Brahmin MLA since 1985. In 2007, 39 percent of Uttar Pradesh’s Brahmins voted for the BJP in the assembly election. Ten years later, during the 2017 election, this percentage rose to 80.
