Chandra Shekhar Azad, the founder of the Bhim Army, is likely to contest his maiden Lok Sabha election in Uttar Pradesh.
According to sources, talks are on to accommodate him in the proposed Samajwadi Party (SP)-Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD)-Indian National Congress alliance under the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) aegis for the 2024 general elections.
Mr. Azad who hails from Ghadkhauli village of Saharanpur, Western Uttar Pradesh will contest from Nagina, a reserved Lok Sabha seat that is currently held by Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader Girish Chandra.
“Yes, of course, I will be fighting the Lok Sabha elections. For the last nine years, the Bhim Army has led people’s struggles, but without a presence in the legislatures, we feel that we reached a roadblock. Vote is after all the strongest weapon in the hand of the common man. And we want them to wield it, to replace the current political class, who show their faces only during the elections,” he told The Hindu.
The selection of Nagina Lok Sabha seat is significant. Before the delimitation, a large portion of it fell in the Bijnor Lok Sabha seat. Several national Dalit leaders including Mayawati, Ram Vilas Paswan and Meira Kumar have contested from the seat in the past, including the famous 1985 show down between the three, which Ms. Kumar won and Paswan was the runner up.
The Azad Samaj Party currently holds nine district council seats and has a significant presence in the State. If SP agrees to back Mr. Azad, his electoral prospects will brighten, since the seat has close to 35% Muslim population. To stake a claim and to signal the beginning of his campaign Mr. Azad will be holding a public meeting here on October 9.
In the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly Election, Mr. Azad contested against BJP leader Yogi Adityanath from Gorakhpur Urban and lost his deposit. Sources said that RLD chief Jayant Singh is pushing for Mr. Azad and trying to convince ally SP to concede at least one seat to him.
Though there is pressure from different quarters to keep a window for BSP to enter the INDIA bloc, the SP is not keen to see their political rival included. Mr. Azad too has been deeply critical of BSP supremo Ms. Mayawati. His presence will help SP to shut the door on Ms. Mayawati’s possible entry.
Mr. Azad, who is not currently part of the INDIA bloc, hailed the effort of the parties to come together.
“We are in an unprecedented situation, the inflation and unemployment rate are at an all time high. The cases of caste atrocities are completely ignored by the current dispensation. There is a deep resentment among the electorate, in such a scenario, it is only natural for all parties to come together,” Mr. Azad remarked.
He said that while he has had ideological differences with the Congress, the biggest party in the INDIA bloc, he nonetheless admires the work that former Congress President Rahul Gandhi has been doing. “I believe he could be the future Prime Minister,” Mr. Azad opined.
The Azad Samaj Party, Mr. Azad said, will also contest the upcoming assembly elections in four states - Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan. The party has been laying the groundwork for the elections with a series of public meetings planned over next month.
“We have sizeable cadres in all the four states,” Mr. Azad said. The party is holding padyatra (foot-march) from September 19 to 23 in Madhya Pradesh and from September 27 to October 6 in Rajasthan.
Underlining the vacuum in Dalit politics, Mr. Azad said that the community which goes unrepresented in the State assemblies and the Parliament, lose their voice.
“Not only the Dalits, the minorities, tribals and the backward classes do not have any strong representation today. The MPs and MLAs belonging to these communities are silent,” he said.
