Latest from poll-scarred behanji — All castes are brothers

The sarv samaj theme is being carried to the masses in the Hindi heartland by Mayawati alone as the founder of the party, Kanshi Ram, has been dwarfed by his own creation and relegated to the role of a B.R.Ambedkar or Jai Prakash Narain in party affairs.

From brokering of alliances to distribution of tickets, it’s the writ ofMayawati that runs in the party. Kanshi Ram has not even once accompanied her to any of the numerous meetings which she has addressed all over the state to expand the party’s support base. “There are no differences between me and saheb and it was he who finalised all the candidates,” says Mayawati, but even the grassroot workers of the party know that Behanji is the last word in party affairs.

This is also the first time that the BSP has fielded a large number of non-Dalits for the Lok Sabha elections, simply to give the message that the party is now desperate to come out of its Ambedkarite shell. Out of a total of 85 candidates of the BSP in UP, 10 are from the upper castes, 20 are Muslims and 38 backwards, leaving only 27 seats for Dalits.

Mayawati knows well that it’s she who now carries the burden of the party, and with Kanshi Ram opting out of campaigning, she is sparing no time despite her swollen throat. She is the only BSP campaigner and its sole crowd-puller which is why she has to make sureshe pays at least one visit to each constituency besides sparing time for her Ambedkar Nagar, from where she is seeking second successive term in the Lok Sabha.

Her day starts early and ends very late after a string of meetings. The theme everywhere remains the same — the BSP is not a party of the Dalits only but a platform to safeguard the interests of all the oppressed people regardless of their caste and creed.

“The BSP is the only party which really did work for the betterment of Muslims and other deprived sections while other parties (read Samajwadi Party) have done nothing but paid only lip-service. We may not have many seats but our strength should be enough to act as a rider in any political formation which emerges after the Lok Sabha elections,” Mayawati explains to the crowd.

The predicament of the BSP is that though it polled nearly 22 per cent of the votes in previous elections, the party could win only four seats from the state. In fact, Arif Mohammed Khan and Akbar Ahmed Dumpy won ontheir own clout and their victory had nothing to do with the party’s support base. The party came second on 14 seats in the last Lok Sabha elections and received more than one lakh votes in 49 constituencies.

The Dalits who form the nucleus of the BSP’s political power wield enormous strength on more than 70 seats, but because of the division in Opposition votes, the party never emerges as the winner. On 30 seats, the Dalits are between 25 and 30 per cent, on 23 seats between 20 and 25 per cent and on another 23 seats below 20 per cent. With this arithmetic, the BSP should get at least 20 seats but it cannot win even 10.

“The sarv samaj will not get the political power it wants to attain unless the Dalits, backwards and Muslims vote in its favour. We should all get united and the BSP will perform miracles at the hustings,” Mayawati exhorts at election meetings but there are few takers.

An alliance with the Samajwadi Party in the ’93 assembly polls had delivered results for the Dalit outfit because itsaw Dalits, backwards and Muslims voting in its favour but this could not be repeated.

“Nothing but the opportunistic approach of our leaders is to be blamed for our unsatisfactory performance. How can the Muslims vote in favour of the party which joined hands with the BJP twice and with the Congress only to grab power,” said a senior party leader.

But Mayawat is undeterred. “We will make any political move which we feel will suit the interests of our electorate and they (the voters) know our approach,” she asserts.