Political battle hots up as Akhilesh and Mayawati spell out their agenda, Chandrashekhar Azad of Bhim Army, Om Prakash Rajbhar, Akhilesh Yadav’s uncle Shivpal Yadav of PSPL, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi and leaders of AAP have been quite active too
Lucknow: siyasat.net
The late BSP founder Kanshi Ram’s trademark slogan was, “Jis ki jitni sankhaya bhaari, uski utni bhaagidari” (share in power will depend on (a caste’s) numerical strength). Kanshi Ram coined the rallying cry to signal two messages. With an average 21 per cent population in every electoral constituency, the Dalits as a voting bloc and a social grouping could not be taken for granted by political parties.
Second, it was time the Dalits leveraged their numbers to prove that they will not be appendages to other communities. The BSP was not an overnight success. When it finally made it in 2007, after Mayawati won a majority of her own in UP and became its first Dalit CM, the underlying irony was evident. Mayawati, advised and helped by a Brahmin aide, Satish Chandra Mishra, mobilised the votes of the upper castes, the Jats and some backward castes to finally shake off the BSP’s dependence on an ally. In the stormy prelude to her success, BSP aligned with the SP, Congress and the BJP.
The partnerships were shortlived but invariably worked to the BSP’s advantage and disadvantage of the allies. The BSP became an exemplar for smaller entities. One of them is Asaduddin Owaisi’s AAIMIM. Despite its legacy as a “pro-Muslim” and “anti-Hindu” party, Owaisi brought in the “Bahujan” element in his discourse and coined a new slogan, “Jai Bhim (after Bhimrao Ambedkar), Jai Meem (Muslim)”.
Owaisi claimed he had created a platform for coalescing the Muslims, OBCs and Dalits “to fight injustice”. The need to broadbase the AIMIM’s support, at least notionally, stemmed from various compulsions. In the highly polarised contemporary socio-political milieu, where Muslim representation in the legislatures has steadily declined, a Muslim party leader is a sitting duck: if he’s accused of speaking up for sectional interests, the charge sticks, as it does with Owaisi.
Meanwhile,With the UP Legislative Assembly elections less than a year away, parties have started looking for new political equations. At least two important parties Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party have made their agendas clear on how they will contest the 2022 state assembly elections?
The SP was the first to announce that it will be contesting the state assembly elections. On many forums, SP Chief and former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav said that he will not forge any alliance with any big political party but will ally with the smaller parties in the state. Meanwhile, BSP chief Mayawati has recently reiterated that her party will not forge any electrical alliance. The ruling BJP has kept its cards close to the chest over alliances for 2022 state assembly elections.
Has the ruling BJP made up its mind to contest the elections alone? This is likely possible as the parties with which the BJP fought elections in 2017 have either left the alliance or exited discussions. Those who are with the BJP are just for the sake of the name. One such alliance in 2017 was with Om Prakash Rajbhar’s party Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party and Anupriya Patel’s Apna Dal. Rajbhar parted ways from the saffron party and has been vocal against the BJP since then.
With the Apna Dal having no special significance, Anupriya Patel did not even get a place in the Modi government’s second term. The Director of Govind Ballabh Pant Institute of Social Sciences (Prayagraj), Badrinarayan, said, “These small parties based on ethnic groups are losing their existence. Communities have started to feel that such leaders’ interest is to take advantage of being in power.On the other hand, the BJP has also made inroads into such ethnic groups in the past years. Leaders of some ethnic groups have been given very high status in the party.” It is obvious that when a political party has created such leaders within its own organization, they will need the clutches. Many leaders from the backward classes have got a big position in the government.
On the other hand, Akhilesh Yadav has been trying to bring together smaller parties for contesting the assembly elections. Only time can tell which small parties will be in the fray with him in 2022. Meanwhile, Chandrashekhar Azad of Bhim Army, Om Prakash Rajbhar, Akhilesh Yadav’s uncle Shivpal Yadav of PSPL, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi and leaders of AAP have been quite active on the ground lately. Of these, Akhilesh Yadav is expected to forge alliances with political groups that suit his party.
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