Casting a doubt on Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati’s participation in the August 27 rally in Patna called by Opposition parties, she on Monday “condemned” as “mischievous and wrong” an online poster that showed her in the same frame as other top non-BJP leaders.
Ms. Mayawati was provoked to issue a clarification after an online poster was shared by a Twitter handle bearing the BSP’s name. The poster themed with a sky blue background showed a standing figure of her along with cut-outs of other Opposition leaders — Akhilesh Yadav, Tejaswi Yadav, Lalu Prasad, Sharad Yadav, Mamata Banerjee and Sonia Gandhi.
“ Samajik nyay ke samarthan mein vipaksh ek ho (Opposition must unite in support of social justice),” the poster read.
After the poster was widely circulated and discussed on social media, Ms. Mayawati issued a clarification condemning the content of the poster as “false propaganda and wrong.”
She also stressed that the BSP “does not have any official Twitter account.”
The four-time former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister said that the BSP regularly issued press notes in Hindi to express it’s viewpoints in detail for the benefit of media as well as common people.
“Twitter does not allow this facility,” she said.
Screenshot of the poster tweeted by a BSP supporter.
In a significant gesture, Ms. Mayawati also distanced herself from the political message of Dalit-OBC unity envisaged by the poster.
“The BSP’s policies and principles are based on ‘Sarvajan Sukjay aur Sarvajan Hitay’ and our party does its work keeping it as a goal, whereas the Twitter poster portrays ‘Bahujan Hitay, Bahujan Sukhay,’ which is wrong,” Ms. Mayawati said.
‘Sarvajan Sukhay aur Sarvajan Hitay’ or for the good of all and happiness for all, refers to the BSP’s project of linking upper castes Brahmin votes to its core Jatav (Dalit) support.
On the other hand, ‘Bahujan Hitay Bahujan Sukhay’ or for the good of the majority and happiness of the majority, is illustrative of the founding principles of the BSP built on bringing together the numerically dominant Dalits and Backwards against the concept of Brahmanism.
Apart from this, the poster also has other defects, Ms. Mayawati said, without any specific reference. Raising questions if she would attend the Patna Rally, which is expected to pave the path for Opposition unity for 2019 Lok Sabha election, Ms. Mayawati, however, remained silent on her participation.
While the BSP does not have a formal social media policy, during the 2017 UP Assembly elections, the party was uncharacteristically active on the platform. Guided by Paresh Mishra, son-in-law of its general secretary Satish Mishra, and other Dalit and Ambedkarite volunteers the party ran various Twitter handles, Facebook pages and WhatsApp groups.
None of them were, however, officially declared by the BSP. The handle in question now for tweeting the poster, @BspUp2017, was one of the many accounts that were active during the elections and have been since.
Soon after the BSP dismissal dismissed the content of the poster, the Twitter handle, which is a verified one, also updated its bio on the site.
“This is not an official BSP account but initiated by BSP ideology supporter,” it read.
