Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati. File | Photo Credit: ANI
Struggling for survival, the Bahujan Samaj Party is again set to play spoilsport for the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and INDIA bloc in the upcoming byelections. It is a rare occasion when the party is contesting a byelection in the State. Continuing with the tactic of the Lok Sabha election where Ms. Mayawati’s choice of candidates put a spanner in the march of the BJP in several seats, in the upcoming byelections, there are four seats where BSP’s social engineering can stall the BJP’s Hindutva push.
The party has fielded four upper caste candidates – two Brahmin, one Rajput and one Vaishya – on these seats. In Sisamau (Kanpur), where the BJP has pinned its hopes on Suresh Awasthi, the BSP has opted for Virendra Kumar Shukla while the Samajwadi Party (SP) has gone with Naseem Solanki, wife of sitting MLA Irfan Solanki whose disqualification necessitated the byelection. In Majhwan (Mirzapur), the BSP has relied on Deepak Tiwari to cash in on the discontent in the Brahmin community against the ruling dispensation.
In Phulpur (Pryagraj), where Deepak Patel is contesting from the BJP, the BSP has opted for a Rajput candidate in Jitendra Singh when the SP has given Mujtaba Siddique another chance.
In Ghaziabad Sadar, where the Vaishya community is in large numbers, Ms. Mayawati is banking on Parmanand Garg as an opportunity to cut into BJP’s vote bank.
Political observers feel the party is going with its strategy of combining its core Scheduled Caste vote bank with that of the caste of the candidate to make a renewed push at the hustings. With the BJP making inroads into its “welfare of Sarvajan” (everyone) refrain, the party now seems to be going back to its slogan of “Bahujan’s [many people’s] welfare and happiness”.
Meanwhile, in Karhal (Mainpuri), the party has backed a Shakya candidate, a vote bank that is crucial for both the BJP and SP considering both have fielded Yadav candidates from the same clan. In fact, Karhal is the seat that makes the BSP’s plan of reviving itself by denting the caste formula of both the BJP and the SP apparent.
In three seats, the BSP candidates are expected to diminish SP’s chances. In Kundarki (Moradabad) and Mirapur (Muzaffarnagar), the BSP has gone with Muslim candidates, and in Katehri, it has put faith in Amit Verma, who hails from the Kurmi community and recently made a switch from the Congress. The choice of candidates in Katehri and Mirapur indicates that Mayawati wants to teach its turncoats and rebels a lesson. In the former, the SP has fielded Shobhavati Verma, wife of its Ambedkar Nagar MP Lalji Verma who was a confidant of Mayawati for a long time before switching sides. In Mirapur, the daughter of the party’s former Rajya Sabha MP Munkad Ali is contesting from the SP. Mr Ali who was removed as the coordinator of Meerut Zone has yet to resign from the party.
Speaking to The Hindu, National Spokesperson Faizan Khan said unlike the SP and Azad Samaj Party, the BSP would not “weaponise the youth to take on BJP’s narrative of hate.” “Behenji has told us we will continue to put a pen in the youth’s hand. We know the electorate is currently polarised between two poles but we are ready to wait to secure the social fabric.”
He said that through ticket distribution and public statements, Ms. Mayawati had repeatedly proved that the BSP was neither “B-team” of anybody nor was it afraid of Central agencies. “Those who say that the BSP polarises elections by giving tickets to Muslim candidates should now ask the SP the same question as it has fielded four Muslim candidates,” Mr. Khan stated.
The byelection will also test the competence of Akash Anand who was reinstated by his aunt Ms. Mayawati as National Coordinator after the Lok Sabha election. Mr. Khan said Mr. Anand was addressing workers across the country and his dismissal for a short period should be seen in the context of Ms. Mayawati’s focus on choice of words while showing disagreement with the policies of the current dispensation. “She is herself very careful in public rallies and didn’t give him any preferential treatment as alleged by our detractors. He is putting in effort like any other common worker and people are not being pushed to crown him in public rallies.”
On senior leaders of the party moving away, Mr. Khan said it didn’t affect the party one bit. “Sometimes, senior leaders become baggage for the party. The Congress discovered it in Haryana election.” At less than 10% in the Lok Sabha election, BSP vote’s share was marginally less than that of the Congress. But Mr. Khan underlined the party secured 12.88% in the 2022 Assembly election. “It showed our core vote is intact,” he asserted, adding the BSP’s call for the welfare of the sarvajan was always about “Bahujan plus the rest”.
Published – October 28, 2024 09:11 pm IST
