New Delhi, Feb 23 (IANS) It was quite interesting to see how BSP chief Mayawati trashed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in one hard-hitting statement, advising him not to point fingers at others but to look into his own self.
Mayawati has always been upfront and ready to whack anyone she finds questioning her political position. After all, she is the patron of Bahujan Samaj politics in the country and knows how to go about it.
The BSP chief has not been as aggressive in election campaigning as the others, especially, the BJP, Congress or Samajwadi Party yet she has her style of making her presence felt. Her party has not been doing well for the past several elections, whether the Lok Sabha or the state Assembly polls, and in particular, Uttar Pradesh.
Her party's lack of aggression has, no doubt, been baffling. The results have been discouraging since 2012 creating the feeling that she may have lost the plot. In 2007, the party had a majority in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly, winning 206 out of 403 seats. In the 2012 Assembly elections, it won only 80 seats, and in 2017, it fell to just 19. However, the worst was in the 2022 elections when the party won only one seat.
At the national level, the BSP won 21 Lok Sabha seats in 2009 but failed to get any in 2014. After its alliance with the Samajwadi Party in 2019, it won 10 seats. And in the 2024, Lok Sabha election, it failed to secure a single seat after going solo.
BSP's dismal performance in the elections has left her followers perplexed. Her electoral base has gradually shifted to other parties.
It is this shifted vote base that Rahul Gandhi appears to be targeting. What he said in his address to Dalit youths in Rae Bareli, where he was visiting a few days ago, was a clear-cut message to the community. His words were carefully worded to impress the Dalits, especially the youths, to stir the thought that Mayawati was not serious about electoral fights.
The Congress leader posed questions to a group of Dalit students: "Behenji aaj kal chunaav theek se kyun nahi lad rahi (Why is Mayawati not fighting polls properly these days)"… "Hum chahte the Behenji BJP ke virodh main hamare saath lade magar Mayawati ji kisi na kisi karan nahi ladi. Hume toh kaafi dukh laga kyunki agar teeno party ek ho jaati toh BJP chunav kabhi nahi jeetti (We wanted Behenji to fight with us against BJP… Mayawati ji did not fight for some reason or the other. I felt very sad because if the three parties (including Samajwadi Party) had united, BJP would never have won the election)".
Mayawati reacted sharply, saying that Congress was the B-team of BJP and had a casteist attitude towards her party. In a post on her X handle in Hindi (loosely translated as): "In the states where Congress is strong or where it has governments, there is animosity and casteist attitude towards BSP and its followers, but in a state like UP where Congress is weak, there is deceptive talk of alliance with BSP, if this is not the double standard of that party then what is it?"
Her dismissal of Rahul Gandhi's statement was swift and intense but there is no denying the fact that BSP's successive setbacks have created a vacuum in Dalit politics. And, several new faces and various parties are trying to create a bloc out of them.
In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. BSP failed, but Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad clinched victory in Uttar Pradesh's Nagina Lok Sabha seat in 2024, securing over 51 per cent of the vote share.
This win has indicated that there is space for the Dalit-centric electoral politics and if Mayawati is lacking for some reasons, there are others ready to dive in.
So, when Rahul Gandhi made the comments on Mayawati and BSP, the target was clear – the over 21 per cent Dalit population in Uttar Pradesh. The Congress, which has made the Muslim community the main plank in its electoral battle against the BJP, is now seeking the Dalit community ahead of the 2027 Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh.
Rahul Gandhi strategically started the campaign by creating clear-cut doubts among the Dalits and other Backward Classes about the "intentions" of Mayawati in not contesting against the BJP. With this, the Congress leader hopes to bring the grand old party's traditional SC vote bank back to it. At the same time, this is also a subtle message to Akhilesh Yadav's SP that the Congress doors are open to other tie-ups also.
While Gandhi may have started his political move to woo Dalits, Mayawati has cautioned the community against what she claims is a biased and discriminatory attitude of the grand old party. She has said that whenever the BSP has contested elections in UP and other states in alliance with Congress, her party's base vote has been transferred to them but the same has not been reciprocated.
Despite the electoral losses, Mayawati continues to be considered the tallest Dalit leader in the country. She still wields considerable influence over her core Jatav vote bank. After Gandhi's comments, posters appeared in Lucknow and Rae Bareli decrying his remarks on Mayawati and accusing him of trying to "mislead" the community. The posters, put up by Bahujan Samaj Manch, demanded an apology from Rahul Gandhi.
The Congress leader's comments though meant to stir the Dalit politics may on the other hand, create a wave of sympathy for the BSP leader, who was the first Dalit CM of Uttar Pradesh.
Although this UP Assembly has two more years to go, the parties seem to be readying themselves for the big-ticket elections.
The 403-member Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections are crucial for all the major parties – BJP, Congress, SP or BSP.
(Deepika Bhan can be reached at deepika.b@ians.in)
--IANS
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