The fact that the Bahujan Samaj is now a permanent and undeniable political presence in the country seems to have been laid down in stone. Or, why else would the BJP, which purportedly stands for the ideology and politics of the Hindu right, effect a change in its long, unbroken, tradition of always electing a member of the upper caste for the top job. So, when the saffron party elevated Bangaru Laxman - a Dalit leader from Andhra Pradesh and a dark horse - to the party president's post last week, there could be only one way of looking at it: a social engineering manoeuvre that was long overdue for the BJP. It's being seen as yet another effort by the party and the Sangh to come out of the conventional Hindi belt, Brahman-Bania mould.