Rise of the Brahmin as Bahujan star

The silent but forceful entry of former UP advocate-general Satish Chandra Mishra into the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) ranks has evoked both s...

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The silent but forceful entry of former UP advocate-general Satish Chandra Mishra into the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) ranks has evoked both shock and surprise among party workers. Mishra was jettisoned into the spotlight recently when he was handpicked by BSP chief Mayawati as her choice for for the Rajya Sabha.

Last week, Mayawati not only resigned from the Lok Sabha to join the Rajya Sabha, she chose Mishra for the only other Rajya Sabha seat available to the party. A month earlier, it was Mishra who carried Mayawati’s letter of support to the UPA Government to the President.

Mishra sticks out in the BSP flock for several reasons — for starters, he is a Brahmin in a party at the forefront of a Dalit political movement and which holds the upper castes responsible for all ills of the scheduled castes; then, within a year or two of his association with Mayawati, he has not only bagged a Rajya Sabha seat but has become her confidant, guiding and strategising the party’s future over the head of every other colleague before him. Especially after founder Kanshi Ram suffered cerebral paralysis.

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Not surprisingly, Mishra, though acutely aware of the irony of his meteoric rise in the BSP prefers to remain in the shadows, looking after ‘‘Madam’s’’ work. Every attempt to talk to him has been met with a wall of excuses.

So, where does Mishra’s clout and influence in the party come from? First, as Mayawati’s legal advisor, Mishra fights all her cases. Says a party source: ‘‘Mishra now has the added task of ensuring that Kanshi Ram stays in Batra Hospital as opposed to shifting him out, as petitioned by his mother and brothers.’’

Mishra’s critics won’t forget his relationship with the BJP and his role as advocate-general in the Babri Masjid case. ‘‘Even as recent as August last year, Mishra was rapped by the Liberhan Commission (looking into the conspiracy to bring down Babri Masjid) for not being prepared with arguments as the state’s counsel,’’ says a source.

Party workers are equally suspicious of Mishra, of his reasons as a Brahmin to join a ‘‘Dalit party’’. Says a BSP worker: ‘‘Sure, Mayawati has given election tickets to upper castes and we have several upper caste MLAs and MPs. But Brahmins were never core members of the inner circle. Kanshi Ram believed in co-opting upper castes for limited political purposes only, he would never allow them such clout and influence in the party’s decision-making.’’

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Instead, party workers point to Mayawati’s complete disregard for Kanshi Ram’s trusted lieutenants — among them former MP from Punjab, Harbajan Singh Lakha, former UP state Transport Minister R.K. Choudhury, former party general secretary Manohar Atte from Maharashtra, Raj Bahadur, former UP state party president — who have all been thrown out over the past few years.