LUCKNOW: Even as Bahujan Samaj Party leader Mayawati is conducting a whirlwind campaign to increase her party’s presence in the states bordering Uttar Pradesh in the run-up to the general elections expected early next year, nominating her heir apparent from her own community is likely to give a new twist to the Dalit politics particularly in Uttar Pradesh.
Over a dozen political outfits have launched a campaign to alienate other Dalit communities from the BSP fold.
On August 28, Mayawati had announced during a rally in Lucknow that her heir apparent would be from her caste. This provided parties playing caste-based politics with a tool to corner Mayawati.
Parakh Mahasangh, which stands for Pasi, Rajbhar and Khatik communities, led by former minister Kaushal Kishore, recently took out a candle-light procession at district headquarters of Unnao, Hardoi, Sitapur, Barabank, Rae Bareli, Pilibhit and Lakhimpur-Kheri to demand replacement of all statues of Mayawati with Dalit icons like Uda Devi Pasi, Jhalkari Bai Kori and Avanti Bai Lodhi — all women.
“The BSP was never a party of a particular caste, and all Dalits and deprived classes struggled for an anti-Manuvadi, Bahujan movement led by late Kanshi Ram but Mayawati sold it off to Manuvadis for power. She announced her heir apparent from her own caste which would never be acceptable to other Dalits,” Kaushal Kishore was quoted as saying.
Pasis make the second largest votebank after Jatavs in UP. Even Rajbhars and Khatiks are not far behind.
The recently formed National Dalit Front, led by Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, has also planned several rallies after the elections to six state assemblies to target Mayawati as a leader of a particular caste.
Indian Justice Party led by Udit Raj, Republican Party of India led by Maharashtra MP Ramdas Athawale and several other Dalit leaders, who were sidelined and finally shown the door by Mayawati after the death of Kanshi Ram, have joined hands under Paswan’s leadership.
“In the first week of December we will hold a conference of like-minded Dalit leaders in Delhi followed by rallies in UP to expose Mayawati’s approach towards other Dalit castes,” Udit Raj told Express over phone.
Meanwhile, smaller Dalit outfits, which were earlier banned by the Mayawati government from holding rallies in Lucknow, have now formed a new outfit called ‘Save Democracy Forum’ (SDF) and are conducting a campaign accusing Mayawati of making SC/ST Act toothless in the state.
SDF convener and former IPS officer S R Darapuri said: “If the BSP is going to be run by an appointed heir in future and not by a leader of mass following like the late Kanshi Ram, how will it be different from the Congress of the Nehru-Gandhi family?’’