What is happening in Uttar Pradesh, is it what the Dalits of Uttar Pradesh want or are political parties expecting Dalits to transform their political aspirations into power? This question is related to the recent political events in Uttar Pradesh.
The first incident is of February 20, when Rahul Gandhi was on his tour of his parliamentary constituency Rae Bareilly. Where Rahul Gandhi, while addressing the gathering, put the question before the Dalits that why does Mayawati (Behenji) not participate in the elections in her old style? She should be a part of the Indian National Development Inclusive Alliance (INDIA). Congress is organizing many programs across the state to unite the Dalit community before the assembly elections to be held in 2027.
The second incident is of a seminar organised by BJP in Gomtinagar, Lucknow in February itself. BJP has organised a seminar named “Samajik Nyay” on a mission to connect with Dalit youth and intellectuals against PDA (Backward, Dalit and Tribal) by Samajwadi Party, to shape the thinking of the community and change voting behaviour.
This event has been organised under the patronage of BJP state secretary Dharampal Singh. Dalit students, teachers, professors were invited to this seminar. Through this, BJP wants to draw the educated Dalit community to its side. To counter the campaign of rival parties to make inroads among Dalits, Mayawati warned her supporters that the conduct, character and face of BJP, SP and Congress have always been staunchly opposed to Dr. Ambedkar. BSP’s UP unit president Vishwanath Pal said, “Cadre camps” are being organised in assembly constituencies to tell party supporters about the tactics of BJP, SP and Congress as well as the ideals of BSP. Senior party leaders and youth have been directed to participate in the camps to make them aware of the struggle of party founder Kanshi Ram and the party chief.
Mayawati’s challenges
Now the question is whether this strategy of BSP will be able to bring to the ground the political memory of Dalits which started from BS-4 and came to the fore in 2007 in the form of BSP government. An old BSP worker believes that BSP does not need to change the strategy to decorate the political game but there is a need to re-look and understand the old strategy. Because even today the influence of Mayawati’s political power can change the political meaning of Uttar Pradesh. Mayawati’s work still has a deep impact on Uttar Pradesh. For example, the grand memorial in Lucknow, party office, Ambedkar memorial, parks, gardens, roads and bridges etc.
Obviously, this The works are still alive in the political memory of Dalits. But how to convert this memory into political practicality? This will be a tough challenge for Mayawati.
According to the Lokniti-CSDS (Centre for the Study of Developing Societies) post-poll survey (Provide the Link), the party retained only 44 percent of its traditional Jatav vote, down from 68 percent in 2014, besides retaining only 15 percent of the non-Jatav Dalit vote, compared to 30 percent a decade ago.
To change this political equation once again, it is necessary that Mayawati herself addresses political meetings and strengthens her reach among the youth. An ideological change has also been seen in the BSP after Kanshi Ram. The party which has come up with ‘Tilak Tarazu Aur Talwar Inko Maaro Joote Chaar’ and ‘Haathi Nahin Ganesh Hai Brahma Vishnu Mahesh Hai’ will have to visit those localities once again to gain political trust among Dalits and backward castes which used to be inhabited during the BSP government.
In their survey titled ‘Political Participation of Dalits’, Dalit women believe that one day Behenji will definitely come among us and she will rule Uttar Pradesh. Despite all this, the regional parties of Uttar Pradesh do not have any political language that can agitate the common people there.
For example, during the tenure of Mulayam Singh Yadav, Mayawati and Akhilesh as Chief Ministers in Uttar Pradesh, it was almost assumed that the credit for becoming the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh will go to the backward castes or Dalits. The political mood of the public was also based on these wishes. After the arrival of BJP, this story started turning upside down. A Dalit worker of BSP believes that the BJP government sees Dalits and backward castes only as votes.
Political paradox in UP
There are two reasons for this political paradox in Uttar Pradesh. First, there has been a change in the top leadership of regional parties, be it Samajwadi Party or Bahujan Samaj Party. Now the matter has gone beyond the image of ‘neta ji’ and ‘chacha ji’ of Mulayam Singh Yadav. Now the command has come in the hands of Akhilesh ji or Bhaiya. Who, instead of speaking the political language of the rural environment, started talking about political strategy based on the wisdom of foreign education.
One result of this was that Shivpal had to form a separate party. On the other hand, SP considered its caste mobilization as its vote base. Samajwadi Party does not seem to have any strategy yet to regain its lost vote base among non-Yadavs. But the SP-Congress alliance had made a significant dent in the Dalit vote bank, which takes the party beyond the old Muslim-Yadav equation. According to the post-election survey of Lokniti-CSDS, India Block has secured 56 percent of non-Jatav Dalit votes and 25 percent of Jatav votes.
The SP, traditionally seen as a party of Muslims and Yadavs, actually managed to win seven out of the 17 constituencies reserved for Scheduled Castes. Whereas in the last Lok Sabha elections, it did not get any seat. But if the political assessment of SP is done independently, then due to the lack of any political base, its position does not look better in the 2027 assembly elections. In a political discussion conducted among the students of Allahabad University, a common opinion comes out that Akhilesh is running a political race but the strategic race is yet to be done.
The second reason is that Mayawati is not able to decide the role of her nephew Akash Anand, that what position he will hold in the party. When Akash Anand’s Dalit penetration is compared to that of Azad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram) chief Chandrashekhar Azad, then Akash Anand’s importance seems to be very less there.
It is worth noting that Azad Samaj Party may be standing on the strength of political consciousness and empowerment of Dalits. But even today, if Mayawati enters the field with her own strategies, Chandrashekhar’s politics can be marginalized. Because BSP came into existence with ideological platform, living among Dalits and even today there are many areas in western and eastern Uttar Pradesh where Dalit settlements are still waiting for Mayawati. Azad’s politics has arisen in Uttar Pradesh due to the absence of BSP.
On the basis of these analyses, it cannot be assessed as to which way the politics of Uttar Pradesh will turn in the upcoming assembly elections. But it is certain that if Mayawati maintains her organizational acumen in the region, then she can definitely become an alternative to the politics of Uttar Pradesh. Along with this, if the connection of these two regional parties SP and BSP with the ground political reality breaks, then once again Hindutva can get a chance to spread and become widespread.
Courtesy : Dr. Pranjal Singh, Hindi News
