During the last ten days Mayawati made considerable efforts to project her nephew Akash Anand and thereby finally settling the of-repeated and decade-long question of “who after Mayawati”. With Mayawati as guiding soul young Akash Anand is now at the helms of affairs along with his father Anand and party’s “Brahmin face” Satish Chandra Mishra, writes M Hasan
Lucknow, October 20: The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), which has launched hectic exercise to re-organize itself at the national level, has long way to go. In view of successive electoral defeats during the last 20 years, except some solace in 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the Dalit outfit has faced massive erosion in its vote bank.
During the last ten days the party witnessed frantic activities in Lucknow to gear up the organization. From October 9 show of “Dalit strength” at Kanshi Ram Smarak to October 16 conference of leaders from Uttrakhand, UP and few other states and finally national conference of around 500 leaders from all over the states on October 19, the party chief Mayawati’s calendar of political engagements was full and hectic.
During the last ten days the leadership also made considerable efforts to project her nephew Akash Anand and thereby finally settling of-repeated and decade-long question of “who after Mayawati”. With Mayawati as guiding soul young Akash Anand is now at the helms of affairs along with his father Anand and party’s “Brahmin face” Satish Chandra Mishra.
(Pic: Mayawati with Satish Chandra Mishra)
During Sunday’s address Mayawati made specific appeal from the states’ coordinators to “Support Akash Anand the same way you have supported me”. But the big question looming large over the organization is “how to go about and retrieve lost ground” at a time when core Dalit vote bank has been fragmented and other support-base has moved away for “greener pasture”.
Mayawati had sprung on the political horizon under the guidance of Dalit Icon Kanshi Ram to become first Dalit chief minister of UP on her own strength in 2007 and her officers had then projected her as strong “Prime Ministerial candidate” in 2009 Lok Sabha election. Her dedicated officers sitting at the then “Pancham Tal” (fifth floor of CM’s secretariate in Lucknow) had counted “at least 50 Lok Sabha seats for Behan ji”. But the BSP could win 21 Lok Sabha seats, which is so far top score.
Now nearly after two decades down the line there has been sharp downfall in the fortune of the party. Kanshi Ram had made a strong Dalit base encompassing all communities but it has been squandered over the years. The drift was significant during 2007-2012 BSP regime when there was special political stress on “Jatav” community, which had alienated others. The Pasis, the second most important Dalit segment had then become quite vocal on the issue. “Kanshi Ram ki Kamai, Mayawati ne Gavai” (Mayawati wasted gains of Kanshi Ram) was then oft-repeated slogan by the rivals who were forced to leave the party after BSP’s 2007 stint in power.
The party’s national vote share in 2009 general election was 6.2 percent, which came down to 4.2 percent in 2014 (no seat), 3.7 percent in 2019 with victory on ten UP seats in alliance with Samajwadi Party and 2.04 percent in 2024. Except in 2019 the BSP had no truck with any other party during the remaining three previous Lok Sabha elections.
At present not considering a recognizable national space for the Dalit organization, if the BSP is to survive in its mother state UP it has to fight against BJP’s 41.37 percent and SP’s 33.59 percent vote share. The BSP’s vote share in 2024 Lok Sabha election in UP, when it had contested all 80 seats was around 9.24 percent. As against any BSP’s victory on any seat, the newly floated rival Dalit organization Azad Samaj Party’s president Chandrashekhar Azad captured Nagina Lok Sabha seat from West UP. Since Shekhar has been making deft effort to make dent into BSP’s vote bank, Mayawati specially targeted him during her speech on October 9.
Thus, the BSP’s absence from the 18th Lok Sabha coincides with the parliamentary entry of Dalit leader Chandrashekhar, who centred his campaign on fulfilling “Kanshi Ram ji ke sapne (Dalit icon and BSP founder Kanshi Ram’s dreams)“. Mayawati also faced Opposition criticism of acting under BJP pressure, including an alleged attempt to split Muslim votes in U.P. The opposition has now dubbed the BSP as “B team” of the BJP.
Now for the BSP, which had sewed up rainbow alliance of Dalit-Brahmin-Muslim” in 2007 to independently capture power in UP, the road ahead is rocky and uphill. Dalits are fragmented and it will be watched with interest how they react to leadership of Akash Anand. Though there are reports of so-called “resentment” in Brahmin community against the present dispensation in UP, there appears to be hardly any possibility of their migration elsewhere in 2027 UP poll.
The three chairs occupied by trusted and important legal brain Satish Chandra Mishra, Anand Kumar, and Akash Anand alongside Mayawati on October 19 national conference gave enough indication that so far there is no presentable “Muslim face.” In 2007, while Mishra led state-wide “Brahmin conferences”, Nasimuddin Siddique had organized “Muslim conferences”. Siddique was in fact a permanent “Muslim shadow” around “Behan ji” but after sharp difference with Mayawati he left the BSP and is now in Congress. Some IAS officers, close to her, too had then play significant role in bringing Muslim community closer to BSP by getting the community’s important demands accepted and quickly implemented. But now much water had flown in Gomti river. Political landscape has transformed and the community’s struggle for peaceful survival has forced it to closely align with Samajwadi Party.
Since alliance of at least three or more dominant castes are necessary to capture power in UP, the BSP is now hankering for Dalit-Backward and Muslim tie-up. However, BSP, no longer a unified voice of all Dalit communities, will have to bring them on one platform before working on others. At least 30 percent plus vote share is a vital figure to come to power in UP, the BSP seems to have a tall order to move from 12 percent (20022 results) to catch this figure. It will have to dislodge the well-entrenched SP from the second pedestal to achieve the tall target to take on saffron brigade. It is for this reason during the last ten days Mayawati’s offensive was more on SP than on BJP.
(M Hasan is former Chief of Bureau, Hindustan Times, Lucknow)
