Elections are important, but brahmins generally seem to be a resigned lot in this regard, as their negative perception in the society has not been assuaged by any government.
Moreover, brahmins are secluded by governmental policies in the field of education and employment; it is a different matter that brahmins, inspite of the odds, have justified themselves in this society (but at a price!?)
Formal and informal associations have, so far, only been successful in creating an partial or a loosely held unity, and that too only in selective areas... and hence, the brahmin voice has not been loud enough... some may argue that what can a miniscule 3% achieve by voicing out, but the fact am highlighting is, have we, the 3%, manage to stick together???
I will not go into issues of brahmin unity here...
Congress, still has the halo of the 'nehru', 'indira', 'rajiv' era with them; also, they also bag the gold medal for the long years of governance since freed from enslavement by the British... the 'emergency' in 1977 ousted it from power for the first time and saw Janata Party come to power, but only for a period of two years... Congress came back to power... then came Rajiv... but the 90s were a period of political instability (it was also the period in which major economic reforms were implemented)... Coalition politics began to grow from strength to strength...
It actually pays to appeal to the minority vote banks as they respond in unison (generally); the 'hindu' vote banks are scattered - divided by suspicion, vendetta and on linguistic basis... A clever politician, in order to maintain his dominance has a simple formula - cater to the minority vote banks (even ignoring one minority could be catastrophic, as the other would sense it as merely a game and the cat would be out of the bag), then have caste/jathi based candidates for the 'hindu' vote banks...
It has worked all along the years - why should a process that has been successful all over the years fail now? Is there any phenomenal change in the society that we should think otherwise?
The BJP, had its ideals high, but was repeatedly brought to 'ground zero' as a result of the tactic applied by the Congress/opposition... BJP waited for the society to recognize the merit and importance of its intent, but it never happened - it only got tagged as an 'anti-secular' or 'anti-minority' party... even worse it was also tagged as an 'brahmin-party' (all these tags were implied in the negative sense)... It was previously unknown in the South, esp in TN, the Aryan-Dravidian myth had been effectively poisoned the mind of the self-proclaimed Dravidians!
The BJP had to break the shackles, and it did so, but in the process, it compromised on its ideals...
It was a bargaining opportunity for the coalition members, when the Congress seemed no longer a stronghold... horse-trading was at its peak (or at least I thought so, but the present situation proves my observation wrong!)...
A better strategy had evolved! Regional parties grabbed the situation with both hands... they became more Regional than National - for it provided them with better bargaining power...
Current reality is that even if a party loses certain vote-banks, it concentrates on those that would vote for it...
In this respect, brahmins to be taken notice of, have to vote as a group - no doubt in that... but the 3% are scattered and it is hard to find an area, where their votes could be significant... ******* should have done this long ago, but well, wishing only brings counter wishes...
We have to realize this fact, and act... nothing else would do...
A ground work to highlight the geographical areas where the brahmin populace is significant enough to affect polling results would be the first requisite - this knowledge would help us know our strengths and weaknesses...
But this obviously cannot be done for this election... So, I would say - Vote for the BJP and urge every brahmin to do it... even if the BJP does not win, analysis would show a greater voting percentage
