Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati’s political fortunes in Uttar Pradesh have been resuscitated in the wake of BJP state unit leader Daya Shankar Singh hurling an unpardonable abuse at her, leading to his expulsion from the party. This has provided her the necessary shot in the arm to galvanise her vote bank of Dalits, Muslims and other backward classes. She wasted no time in displaying her show of strength in Lucknow. Singh’s uncalled for utterances against Mayawati can prove to be disastrous for the Lotus party, with barely eight months left for the crucial assembly elections in the country’s most populous state, next year.
This assumes significance as the BSP had not only taken a beating in the last assembly elections in 2012 but failed to win a single seat to the Lok Sabha in the 2014 general elections from UP. The unpardonable insult heaped on Mayawati has not only led to Singh absconding but emboldened her to renew her focus with greater vigour about Dalit self-respect as well as seeking adequate representation for them in the judiciary along with reservation in promotions in government jobs.
The Sangh Parivar in its many avatars as well as certain BJP leaders have not been found wanting in crossing the “Lakshman Rekha” time and again, invariably catching Prime Minister Narendra Modi‘s government on the wrong foot. Strategists in the saffron brigade will necessarily have to change tack in seeking the support of Dalits and other backward classes in UP– having the largest assembly of 403 members– besides providing the highest number of 80 seats to the Lok Sabha.
It is virtually a make or break situation for the BJP in UP as the outcome in the assembly elections will set the tone for the general elections two years later, in 2019. The damage having been done, it is going to be difficult for the BJP to convince the electorate that it is not a party of the upper castes. With this in mind, a backward, Keshav Prasad Maurya, was made president of the party unit in UP. It is apparent that there are divisions in the UP unit of the BJP pulling in different directions.
The BJP brass steered clear of naming a chief ministerial nominee as that could complicate matters. The party did likewise in Bihar, a battleground state in the cow belt, and lost the assembly elections last year. They also had to contend with the Mahagathbandhan of chief minister Nitish Kumar’s JD(U), Lalu Prasad Yadav‘s RJD along with the Congress which pushed for such a coalition. In the two assembly elections last year the BJP came a cropper –losing Bihar as well as Delhi where the Aam Aadmi Party swept the polls.
With political equations changing, it will not be surprising if others rally behind Mayawati to keep the BJP out of contention in the most crucial and caste ridden state in the Hindi heartland where it held sway and managed to secure a majority on its own in the Lok Sabha for the first time since its inception in 1980.
The recent attack on Dalits by cow vigilantes has invoked Dalit fury in Gujarat, the home state of Modi, spilling over to the streets protesting the flogging of four members of a family for skinning a dead cow in Una. The new found Dalit anger against cow vigilantism is spreading to other states. The irony of it all is that these vigilantes refused to listen to the Dalits that they skinned a dead animal and did not kill it. Furthermore, nine Dalits tried to commit suicide in Saurashtra where the numbers in this regard rose to 17. One of BSP’s supporters announced a reward of Rs 50,000 to anyone who cut Singh’s tongue.
Mayawati, who has been the chief minister of UP four times, has been provided the much needed handle to unmask the deplorable attitude of the BJP leaders towards the Dalits and OBCs while striving to overcome the inequality heaped on them by society for centuries. It brings to the fore the insensitive mindset of not only the BJP leaders but the fringe elements of the Sangh Parivar backed by the RSS.
Then there is the intolerance against the minority communities, particularly the Muslims and Christians. Within a fortnight of Modi becoming the Prime Minister on May 26, 2014, a young Muslim techie returning home after prayers at night was attacked and killed in Pune. Members of a little known radical group calling itself the Ram Sena in Mumbai were involved in the brutal, premeditated attack. In another incident, 50-year-old Mohammad Akhlaq was dragged out of his house and battered to death in Dadri near Delhi in September last year for allegedly keeping beef in his fridge.
This highly disturbing trend of the lunatic fringe in the Sangh Parivar brazenly beating up people by taking law into their own hands in the name of cow protection has gone viral. It is time Modi gave up his stoic silence when such atrocities occur. It is time he stepped in firmly to stop them rather than officials alluding to the specious plea that law and order is a state subject. Condemning the harassment and ill treatment of Dalits in Parliament and looking the other way thereafter might cause more harm than good to the saffron brigade. As the BJP’s mentor, the RSS is reluctant to disown and condemn the vigilante groups. Consequently, the BJP ruled state governments are finding it difficult to take stern action.
Mayawati, 60, is recalibrating her strategy with the turn of events. She has been the most powerful female leader of a non-Congress party and was the first chief minister of Uttar Pradesh to complete a full five-year term. The BSP is the only party in the country, formed in 1984 by her mentor Kanshi Ram, of and for the Dalits encompassing other backward classes. With the discernible rising anger of the Dalits, it might not be long before the country faces a backlash. After all, Dalits form 16.66 per cent of the country’s population or 20.14 crore people as per the 2011 census. For a section that has largely remained subjugated that can be awesome Dalit power fighting for its rights as enshrined in the Constitution.
