The Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government has neglected Brahmins and Dalits and focused on only promoting Thakurs, the community to which the Chief Minister himself hails from, says senior Bahujan Samaj Party leader Satish Chandra Misra.
In an interview to The Hindu , he also justified the BSP’s do-it-alone strategy this time in U.P. Assembly election, saying that only the “weak need alliances.”
While BSP chief Mayawati is herself yet to step out to campaign for the 2022 Assembly election, Mr. Misra, her trusted lieutenant and national general secretary, has toured the State and addressed several rallies and public meetings, many of them targeted to woo the influential Brahmin caste, to which he himself belongs. In his speeches, Mr. Misra has tried to evoke Brahmin victimhood and referred to instances where members of the caste have been killed by the police in alleged “encounters,” murdered in criminal acts or neglected in politics by the BJP.
“They totally neglected Brahmins,” Mr. Misra said accusing the Yogi Adityanath-led government of promoting ‘Thakurvad’.
“Naturally, they can see only one caste, that too only selected people who are special to them. They have not just neglected members of the Schedule Caste community but made them outcastes, treated them as if they are not even human beings,” said Mr. Misra, referring to the Hathras rape and murder case of a Dalit girl. Mr. Mishra feels this time around there will be an unprecedented consolidation of the 21.5 % Dalit voters in favour of the BSP.
Mr. Misra also says that Brahmins feel they have got nothing from the BJP government except for insults, despite voting for it heavily. “They did not get any respect or dignity. Instead, they faced insults. We gave them everything [when we ruled from 2007 to 2012],” said he. The BSP leaders says that the two deputy CMs under Mr. Adityanath, Keshav Prasad Maurya (OBC) and Dinesh Sharma (Brahmin) merely served as “flower vases” meant for decoration without any actual power.
The BJP had managed to lure the Brahmins in the name of the Ram Mandir and promise of taking them along, but even after two years the foundation of the temple in Ayodhya was not ready, he said.
“What have they given, except taking the name of Ram? Everybody takes the name of Ram. We all do. Brahmins pray to the bhagwan in their homes. They don’t take it outside and seek votes in its name. The BJP stands fully exposed now,” he said.
Once the “Brahmins decide to return” where they were in 2007, things will completely change, he said, when asked what social arithmetic the BSP has in its plans to challenge the BJP and the SP.
Despite the projections of a polarised contest between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Samajwadi Party the two parties have not been able to declare a single candidate for the 2022 Assembly due in February but the BSP has already announced 300 out of its 403 candidates, Mr. Misra said.
“We have announced more than 300 candidates. They have not even brought out their opening batsman,” said Mr. exuding confidence that the party was capable of repeating its 2007 success despite the odds stacked against the party.
While the BJP currently has two smaller OBC allies, Nishad Party and Apna Dal, the SP has roped in half-a-dozen smaller parties with command over the Rajbhar, Jat, Noniya Chauhan, Maurya-Kushwaha and Kurmi OBC communities. The BSP, which had experimented with an alliance with the SP in 2019 Lok Sabha election, is back to contesting alone. Party chief Mayawati has on several occasions made it clear that she would field candidates on all 403 seats, dismissing alliance prospects with both the AIMIM and the political faction of the Bhim Army.
Isn’t the BSP isolated in the projected polarised contest between two other large alliances? “We are strong. Hence we are fighting alone. From day one, we have announced that we will not get into any alliances with anyone. The SP is looking for people to borrow and promising tickets to 10 persons on one seat to lure them,” said Mr. Misra.
In the 2017 election, the BSP, despite retaining a decent 22% vote share, slumped to mere 19 seats from the 80 in 2012 and the 206 it won in 2007 when Ms. Mayawati formed the first single party majority government in the State in 17 years. The BSP has also been bruised by ill-timed rebellions, sackings and defections to the extent that out of the 19 legislators who won on its symbol in 2017, only three effectively remain with it. Most jumped ship to the SP. The BSP says this will not hurt the party as it is Ms. Mayawati who still commands the mass support. But isn’t the BSP lagging behind in mobilising caste alliances?
“Who needs alliances? Those who are weak need alliances. If I get weak, I will use crutches,” said Mr. Misra, justifying the BSP’s decision to go solo.
Much of the BSP’s campaign also focuses on the work done by Ms. Mayawati during her previous government, including the transformation of cities like Noida and Lucknow.
But does this “nostalgia” resonate with the young voters? Mr. Misra says the youth is fed up under the BJP rule. “There is unemployment. The educated have no jobs; they [BJP] are asking them to sell pakoras. They promised to double the income of farmers but are trying to take away their land,” he said.
In the 2017 election, the BSP had played up the ‘BDM’ card (Brahmin, Dalit, Muslim). However, this time little emphasis seems to be on wooing the Muslims. But Mr. Misra says the community has always backed the BSP. “They have seen the past riots under the SP government. Forget riots, there was not eve a single skirmish under the BSP government. They lived with bhaichara and got space in the government and ministries just like all other castes. They were safe,” said Mr. Misra. Behenji wants to take everyone together, he said.
