The first review meeting of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in Meerut after its disastrous performance in the State Assembly election saw furore, protests and fighting by local workers. Protesting BSP workers accused senior party leaders like Naseemuddin Siddiqui and Athar Singh Rao of selling ticket and fielding weak candidates.
Naseemuddin Siddiqui, who was party in-charge for the Meerut division, was in Meerut on Tuesday to chair a meeting to review the party’s performance in Meerut and in other districts in its vicinity. The party failed to win even a single seat in the Meerut division. The moment Mr. Siddiqui rose to speak, party workers started raising slogans against him and other party leaders. He kept his speech to a minimum and left the venue immediately.
As he left, party workers burnt his effigy and that of western U.P. coordinator Athar Singh Rao. Some of them workers accused Mr. Rao of taking money in lieu of arranging a brief meeting with party supremo Mayawati. This was not the first time senior party leaders have faced the wrath of party workers over the BSP’s disastrous performance in the State Assembly elections. A similar situation prevailed during review meetings in Ghaziabad and Aligarh last week.
Anger against coterie
Dalit activist Dr. Satish Prakash said there was anger against the present party leadership among the cadre.
“Dalits are not angry with Mayawati. She is still popular among Jatavs. But the coterie around her, which mediated between her and workers, is the target of this anger. It is quite apparent that this coterie took things for granted and acted recklessly in chalking out the election strategy," Dr. Prakash, a faculty of Physics at Meerut College said.
