2024-08-28 04:48:29
Author: Subodh Ghildiyal
When the Soviet empire collapsed after the Cold War, highly skilled people became unemployed. This caused a lot of losses. Russian sports coaches, pilot instructors, engineers and scientists started to migrate and within no time, skilled Russian workers spread across the country. Now imagine what happened to the Bahujan Samaj Party, the voice of Dalits and the school of social engineering. What happened is quite obvious – at least 10 of the 37 MPs who won on Samajwadi Party tickets in the Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh have roots in the BSP, and at least six candidates who lost were former BSP leaders. Now, the sub-classification of castes within the Dalit category threatens to derail Dalit politics in UP. Both the BSP and the SP have rejected it. The BSP wants to re-establish itself as the champion of Dalit unity. The SP-BSP are trying to increase their penetration among both block workers and voters.
Is it too late or can Mayawati’s BSP come back on track? In the UP Lok Sabha elections, Akhilesh Yadav-led SP won 37 out of 80 seats. Earlier in January, the Ram temple of Ayodhya was inaugurated. Prime Minister Narendra Modi became the host of the Pran Pratishtha program of Ram Lalla’s idol there. How did the SP win the Lok Sabha elections held against this background? The answer to this is a combination of mobilization of Mandalists, clever selection of candidates, Rahul Gandhi’s growing credibility among the lower sections of society and exchange of votes between SP and Congress.
As JNU sociologist Vivek Kumar said, “The Congress and Rahul’s promise of social justice and the potential threat to the Constitution from the return of the Modi government created a sense of insecurity among Dalits.” He added, “Dalits were Congress voters for a long time until the rise of parties like the BSP.”
But there was a steady exodus of talent from BSP to SP for an unseen reason, especially after the 2022 UP state elections. Mayawati had almost surrendered in the last few years. She had challenged BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections along with SP. It was reminiscent of the slogan that emerged from the alliance of backward classes after Ayodhya, ‘Mile Mulayam-Kanshiram, Hawa Mein Ud Gaye Jai Shri Ram’.
But the election results did not come as expected and Mayawati wasted no time in breaking the alliance. She cited lack of vote transfer from SP to BSP, but many said that in fact there was pressure from central agencies on opposition leaders. BSP became inactive. In 2022, the party got only one seat in the 403-seat assembly. This confirms that ‘Behenji’ has been defeated in the electoral field.
With Ambedkar in their hearts and minds and Kanshi Ram’s book in their hands, the marginalised began to look for new possibilities as the BSP’s momentum slowed. Incidentally, the socialist camp, which had been defeated twice by the BJP, was facing turmoil in the same period. The BJP had launched its own social engineering, using virulent communal appeals to polarise the majority Hindus. On the other hand, there was an ‘anti-Yadav’ mobilisation, which alienated the ‘most backward’ from the alleged OBC solidarity. Ironically, the BJP poached the upper castes and the most backward classes that were opposed to Mulayam Singh Yadav’s Muslim-Yadav alliance. This move widened the BJP’s support base to a level that was difficult to counter with any caste-religious equation.
In such a situation, the unemployed workers of the BSP and the worried strategists of the SP came together quite naturally. The migration of BSP workers to the SP also brought with it Dalits, the most backward and Muslims at the grassroots level. BJP insiders admit that its newly built OBC base was shaken in 2022. Sections of major communities moved towards the SP, leading to 111 seats as against 47 in 2017.
With the disintegration of BSP, a part of Dalit voters also came into the BJP’s kitty. In some key areas, some OBCs and some Dalits filled the gaps. This led to BJP’s victory in 2022. Akhilesh strengthened the base of Yadavs, Kurmis, Lodhs, MBCs, Muslims and Dalits, so the weaknesses became beyond repair. This is why SP came back to life. The same pattern worked for BJP in other states. BJP increased its voter base by bringing leaders from Congress in many states.
Take Lalji Verma for example. He moved from SP to BSP during Kanshi Ram’s time, reunited with Akhilesh ahead of the 2022 elections and SP won all five assembly constituencies in Ambedkar Nagar, a BSP stronghold. With Lalji Verma winning on an SP ticket, Ambedkar Nagar is no longer a BSP stronghold.
Kanshi Ram’s associate RK Chaudhary, who had separated from Mayawati and joined SP, won from Mohanlalganj, which is a reserved seat. He says, ‘BSP workers are looking for a movement that reflects Kanshi Ram’s values.’ Chaudhary says that the irony is that 20 years ago Kanshi Ram had a movement, but it had few supporters. Now when the people prepared by him have stood up on the strength of the Constitution and democratic values, there is no one to lead.
Into that void came Akhilesh’s PDA (Backward, Dalit, Minority). Chaudhary says, ‘Kanshi Ram had changed PDA to ‘Bahujan Samaj’.’ This base is today Akhilesh’s PDA block. According to Chaudhary, about 40% of BSP cadre voted for SP, most of whom were Dalits, even though SP did not make much effort to reach out to them. He says, ‘Many Kanshi Ram’s people like me are in SP. We will bring more BSP workers to SP.’
The army of BSP workers is a huge force. The workers are district and village level ‘soldiers’ who are trained to go to the settlements every day and perform songs and plays to instill a sense of pride in the people and connect them with the Bahujan movement.
Others are also eyeing the BSP vote bank. Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad, the newly elected MP from Nagina Lok Sabha seat from where the BSP began its journey in western Uttar Pradesh, added ‘Kanshi Ram’ to the name of his Azad Samaj Party in an attempt to woo disheartened BSP supporters.
But Vivek Kumar rubbishes reports of the BSP’s demise. He argues that this shift in Dalit votes could be temporary. “Parties like the BSP, born out of social movements, never die. Their fortunes decline. The BSP too suffers the same fate, yet it enjoys the loyalty of a large social group,” he said. Dalit politics is clearly in a state of flux.