Mandal messiah says movement gone amiss

Former prime minister V.P. Singh regretted that the social change he tried to initiate among economically backward classes in the early &#14...

Former prime minister V.P. Singh regretted that the social change he tried to initiate among economically backward classes in the early ’90s, had degenerated into caste politics.

‘‘The Mandal movement has gone amiss,’’ said the Mandal messiah, in an exclusive interview, referring to the many-splintered backward caste and Dalit parties that he helped create in the late ’80s, and which dominate the present today, ‘‘because when elections become important and not social change, then compromises begin.’’

Singh was speaking to The Indian Express after addressing a press meet where he highlighted the necessity to defeat the BJP, even at the cost of aligning with Congress. ‘‘Wherever there is no Third Front, I have asked the people to vote for the Congress,’’ he said, but added, ‘‘this doesn’t mean I have entered into an alliance with them, I am pursuing my objective. The reality is, only the Congress can defeat BJP.’’

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The ailing leader, known as the founder of the Third Front of the ’90s, is candid about the dozen off-shoots of the Front. ‘‘The Mandal movement and social revolution has not gone forward because it has degenerated into caste-based politics. I was not making governments but making history when I tried to mobilise socially and economically backward sections together. Today, the battle is between two castes, Kurmi vs Yadav, Yadav vs Dalit.’’

Singh does not believe it is his failure for the unfortunate turn of events, but he accepts the irony of the Front’s condition — it began, in partnership with the BJP, as an anti-Congress movement, but is today anti-BJP. ‘‘The BJP’s real face was revealed in Gujarat last year and the people must know,’’ said Singh, ‘‘I admit it was because of the infighting in the Janata Dal that the BJP grew to this size. If Mulayam had not fought with me after the UP elections in 1991, the BJP would not have gained.’’

He elaborates by pointing out that unlike in UP and Gujarat (‘‘where Chimanbhai Patel joined the BJP’’) in Bihar, for instance, a strong JD has managed to keep the BJP out. ‘‘In MP too, where the JD withered, the Congress could not contain BJP’s growth.’’

He refuses to take the blame for being the first to align with the BJP. ‘‘I did not take the help of BJP to come to power. BJP leaders begged me to include them in the Front’’