Why BJP’s masterstroke dashes Maya’s dreams
The Dalit candidate for President has punctured the ‘political empowerment’ movement of the BSP
Bahujan Samaj Party founder president late Kanshi Ram and his protégé Mayawati had dreamt of giving India its first Dalit prime minister. That they could not do. However, the BJP stole a march over them by nominating a seasoned Dalit leader for the highest constitutional post – President of India.
The calculated move to give the country its second SC president , 15 years after the country had its first Dalit President KR Narayanan, has put the Opposition on the back foot, demolishing their fragile unity, much before it could be built up. Several regional forces, including the champions of Dalits, the BSP, will not oppose Ram Nath Kovind’s ascendancy to the president’s post.
Thus the BJP has killed two birds with one stone. First it has again derailed the Opposition’s ambitious move to unite before the 2019 general elections. Second, it has punctured the ‘political empowerment’ movement of the BSP, hitting it hard for the second time after the 2017 UP elections.
As the BSP was the only Dalit-led party in the country, Mayawati filled the vacuum caused by the demise of former deputy Prime Minister Jagjivan Ram as no other leader, including his daughter and former Speaker of the Lok Sabha Meira Kumar, could walk or talk the language with which their clan could identify with.
However, while Mayawati reached the portals of power in UP, she failed to take her constituency on the path of progress. She gave parks and statues in the form of dignity to them but wasted an opportunity to spread wings in the country after her party’s euphoric victory in 2007. But Dalits of today aspire for more than dignity even though the BJP’s rise to power has brought back the ghost of untouchability.
In this background the BJP has played a master stroke, dashing the Congress’ hopes of Dalits returning to the party fold from a weakened Mayawati, and her own expectations of retaining them now that a Rajput leads Uttar Pradesh. Her visit to caste clashhit Saharanpur had surprised her own cadres as she is infamous for keeping away from any troubled spot, including Muzaffarnagar, since the 2007 victory of her party.
Now ahead of 2019 elections, the BJP has emerged as the new champion of Bahujan Samaj by giving a backward caste PM and a Dalit president, derailing Mayawati’s claim, “Just as BSP today is a symbol of Bahujan Samaj’s dignity, Mayawati, in the opinion of intellectuals, has acquired a standing in Indian politics where in people may criticise her, even condemn her, but nobody can ignore her.’
However, now Mayawati’s brand value has nosedived. What political brinkmanship!