The statistics in the article, “ >Mayawati’s broken dream ” (June 16), prove that the electorate in our country is still entangled in the web of casteism and regionalism. Another disturbing fact is that in certain States, the winnability factor of a candidate is judged by his or her caste than merit. The mindset of the general masses needs to be changed. Inclusive and all-round development involving all sections of society is the need of the hour. Implementation of a uniform civil code along with a gradual withdrawal of the caste-based reservation system for a socio-economic criteria-based one will be a good step.
Nishant Choudhary,
Visakhapatnam
Even with the complexity of caste structures, at the end of the day the ordinary man prefers governance to hollow rhetoric. The BSP took a beating in the hands of the SP in the 2012 Assembly elections due to rampant corruption and indecisive governance. Akhilesh Yadav grew after this. Now that successive governments have failed to deliver the goods, the rise of the BJP has been inevitable. People have voted for development.
Vishal Dash,
New Delhi
The dawn of the 21st century witnessed a change in the leadership of the BSP and the party entering the post-Kanshi Ram era with its many experiments with caste. The party’s “social engineering formula” was nothing but an aggregation of castes. While implementing this formula, Ms. Mayawati perhaps forgot what her mentor Kanshi Ram had said: “A society having a weak social base cannot have a strong political movement.” The BSP also seems to have forgotten what Dr. B.R. Ambedkar said: “You cannot build anything on the foundation of caste. You cannot build up a nation, you cannot build up morality. Anything that you will build on the foundation of caste will crack, and will never be a whole.”
Arvind Kumar,
New Delhi
The BSP’s core Dalit vote bank has more or less shifted to the BJP. These results were inevitable since the party’s principles lie around the caste vote bank. It failed to realise that the electorate would rise above casteism and vote for development and prosperity.
Gagan Pratap Singh,
Noida
