LUCKNOW: The expulsion of BSP’s Muslim face Naseemuddin Siddiqui from the party and the tirade he launched against the leadership has exposed the inner contradictions of the Dalit outfit. Ravaged by desertion of senior leaders for over a year and a fast dwindling vote share, the party—and the Dalit movement—is at the crossroads and staring at a bleak future.
After a comprehensive defeat in the 2012 Assembly elections, it has been a downhill journey for the party. The fall has been sharper after the 2014 Lok Sabha polls when the party drew a blank. Since then, senior leaders have trooped out of the party and have levelled serious charges against Mayawati. In the 2017 state elections, BSP hit rock bottom with just 19 seats in its kitty in 403-strong House.
Nothing has damaged the BSP’s reputation more than the exodus of its senior leaders, many of who were among its founders. Starting with Rajya Sabha member Jugal Kishore, the trail continued with then leader of Opposition Swami Prasad Maurya, former MP Brijesh Pathak and the party’s former chief whip in Lok Sabbha, Dara Singh Chauhan. With Siddiqui’s sacking, the party’s Muslim face on whom Mayawati relied for the success of the Dalit-Muslim formula, BSP lost the BSP chief’s Friday. Out of favour from the electorate, what’s the future of this depleted outfit?
Dalit ideologue and political commentator S R Darapuri says the BSP cadre is demoralised after its drubbing in the UP elections. “The scenario is worrisome. BSP’s future seems really bleak. Expulsions and desertions will make the party weak,” says Darapuri. He believes Mayawati should have owned up for the party’s debacle instead of pushing the blame on EVMs. “She absolved herself ignoring the fact that her faulty and imbalanced ticket distribution and role of money led to her party’s defeat in UP polls,” adds Darapuri.
BSP is now being seen as a party that has registered a prominent shift from the ideology of Kanshi Ram, who always batted for a party based on a broader social structure. “BSP is showing a clear decline. It’s a difficult time for the blue brigade and it’s going to suffer a beating in the days to come,” says columnist S Badri Narayan.
Mayawati has never allowed a second line of leadership to emerge. As a result, political activities of the party and its finances are relegated to Mayawati and a few of her close confidantes. Prof Vivek Kumar of Jawaharlal Nehru University has another opinion. He believes Mayawati’s iconic leadership will sail the party through this crisis and the organisation will be resurrected. “Muslims are happy with Siddiqui’s expulsion, which will not make any difference to the party’s clout. Leaders expelled by Mayawati were individualistic and did not add any support base to the party,” he says.