As part of its strategy to break into the Dalit vote bank, the Samajwadi Party is trying to create a new social equation through Ambedkar Vahini.
Lucknow – Moving beyond its traditional backward class (OBC) based politics, the Samajwadi Party (SP) has now become active in presenting itself as a broad social alliance. In this episode, the party is going to organize the first national convention of its Dalit wing Baba Saheb Ambedkar Vahini in Lucknow on July 27.
Launched on the occasion of Ambedkar Jayanti in 2021, through this Vahini, the SP is trying to reach the Dalit community at an institutional level, especially when the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is struggling to handle its traditional vote bank and new Dalit leadership is emerging in many areas.
This convention will try to connect 400 to 500 representatives from across the country, which will be a big and important milestone for the Ambedkar Vahini. Formed nearly three decades after the inception of the SP, this frontal organisation aims to build cadres and spread political awareness among the Dalit community.
Rambabu Sudarshan, general secretary of Baba Saheb Ambedkar Vahini, said, “Our first national convention will be held in Lucknow, in which Vahini national president Mithailal Bharti will be the key speaker. The agenda of the convention will include issues like atrocities on Dalits under BJP rule, abolition of reservation through outsourcing and the recent alleged attack on Dalit MP Ramji Lal Suman.”
BSP’s weakening support base and new search for Dalit voters
This convention is taking place in a political scenario where the Mayawati-led BSP, which was once considered the only choice of Dalits, is now facing continuous electoral defeats. Since 2017, the BSP’s support base has declined and its core vote bank — especially the Jatav community — is looking for new options.
If we talk about electoral figures, the BSP won 25.95% votes and 80 seats in the 2012 UP assembly elections. In 2017, it fell to 22.23% votes and 19 seats, while in 2022, the party won only one seat with just 12.88% votes. The decline is also evident in Lok Sabha elections — 19 seats (24.67%) in 2004, 20 seats (27.42%) in 2009, zero seats (19.77% vote share) in 2014, and 10 seats (19.42%) in alliance with the SP in 2019.
Not just Dalits, SP is also in search…
Prashant Trivedi, associate professor at the Giri Institute of Development Studies, says, “SP’s efforts to reach out to Dalits are not one-sided. Dalit society, especially the Jatav community, is also now re-evaluating its political options.” He says, “When SP and BSP formed an alliance in 2019, this trend got strengthened. Even after the alliance broke, Akhilesh Yadav never made personal attacks on Mayawati, which Dalit voters liked.”
He said, “In 2024, SP and Congress formed an alliance, due to which the traditional identity of Dalits started getting associated with Congress again. Congress used to be the first choice of Dalits – now the same memory is emerging again in the new political circumstances. The politics of Uttar Pradesh is now moving towards the Bihar model, where Dalits and backwards are coming together on one platform.”
From symbols to organization: SP’s changed strategy
The strategy of SP to reach out to Dalits has now gone beyond symbolism and reached the organizational level. During the 2019 elections, SP started celebrating the birth anniversaries of Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar and Kanshiram, and also installed a statue of Ambedkar in the party office along with the statue of Lohia.
2021 saw the formal launch of the Ambedkar Vahini and the same year the SP called upon workers to celebrate Ambedkar Jayanti as ‘Dalit Diwali’.
In 2024, the party organised a week-long Swabhimaan-Samman Samaroh (self-respect) celebrations across the state on Ambedkar Jayanti, with events organised in collaboration with the Samajwadi Scheduled Caste Front. The same year, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav unveiled a bronze statue of Ambedkar in Etawah, in a sitting posture, to be installed in BSP offices.
Along with this, several prominent BSP leaders also joined the SP — including Afzal Ansari, R.K. Chaudhary, Mithailal Bharti and Ram Prasad Chaudhary — indicating the growing influence of Dalit leadership in the party.
PDA formula and growing acceptance
The centrepiece of the SP’s social strategy is the PDA — that is, the backward, Dalit, minority alliance. It aims to organise these three sections on a political platform. The success of this formula was seen in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, when the SP performed its best in the last ten years by winning 37 seats alone.
This convention to be held in Lucknow is not just a symbolic program but is being considered an important step towards organizational empowerment of Dalit leaders and strengthening their participation in the party.
As the politics of Uttar Pradesh is moving from social polarization to new equations, SP’s effort to establish itself as an inclusive social alliance can determine the direction of the state’s politics.
Rajan Chaudhary
Courtesy : Hindi News