PATNA, June 25 -- The encounter of 28-yr-old Bharat Bhusan Tiwari, a social media activist, on June 17 at Bilauti village in Bhojpur having snowballed into a major controversy, with role of police coming under cloud for acting hastily, has now gained political dimensions, with Uttar Pradesh polls coming next year. The reason is the mobilisation of upper caste, especially Brahmins against the BJP-led NDA and may end up as another sore point for upper castes like the Vikas Dubey encounter in 2020 ahead of the state polls, mainly in eastern and central parts of the state, where the BJP and opposition parties will be vying for the major chunk of upper castes, including Brahmin votes. In the last one week, Bilauti and Tiwari's family has remained in spotlight with opposition leaders, including former CM Rabri Devi as well as some of the disgruntled BJP leaders including former union minsters Ashwini Choubey and RK Singh calling the encounter a 'fake' one and demanding justice. On Wednesday, a mahapanchayat called by villagers to condemn the killing saw participation of thousands including leaders like Jan Suraaj founder Prashant Kishor, reports said. At the moment, the Bihar administration gauging the angry mood of locals in Bhojpur has ordered a judicial probe and trying to do damage control by having lodged FIRs against the police officials involved in the shootout even as some ministers have also tried to give the controversy a twist by questioning how the 28-yr-old got a gun. The genesis of Tiwari's encounter started when police went to his village to arrest him after a video purportedly showing him pulling a gun at a cop went viral. Family of the deceased have claimed Tiwari, despite being a social activist having championed for the poor, was not mentally sound. However, one cannot miss how the episode has aroused caste passions in Bhojpur and Buxar where rivalry among upper and intermediary castes has a history since 1970 when the Naxal movement began. Political observers feel there is an attempt to flare up the case by arousing caste passions and may have its fallout in some parts of UP as caste hostilities in Bhojpur and Buxar often have its impact in Benaras and Awadh regions. "The encounter surely has antagonised the caste men of the deceased ... How much it will impact or lead to caste polarisation ahead of the UP polls is still debatable," said DM Diwakar, former director of AN Sinha Institute of Social Sciences. "This episode is more a monetary flare up being fuelled by certain leaders in view of the UP polls... but one cannot discount, the BJP is good in diverting issues inimical to its poll prospects. Besides, if upper castes polarise, there would be bigger polarisation among backward castes too who have a high percentage in eastern UP and other parts," said Diwakar On the other hand, Nawal Kishore Chaudhary, former principal, Patna College said anger in a section of Brahmins won't impact UP caste arithmetic. "One cannot assume that any incident in Bihar linking it with a particular caste will affect voting in UP... Besides, there may be certain issues of Brahmins in UP but in current political perspective, they are more aligned with the BJP than any other party," said Chaudhary....