SP, BSP plan an ‘iconic’ move to cement new bond
LUCKNOW: After upsetting the BJP’s applecart in the UP bypoll, Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leaders are all set to participate in the birth and death anniversary programmes of their respective icons in the run-up to the Lok Sabha election due early next year, leaders familiar with the matter said.
The Samajwadi Party (SP) has invited BSP leaders to the birth anniversary celebrations of socialist leader the late Ram Manohar Lohia on March 23, an SP leader said.
Similarly, a BSP leader said his party will invite the top SP leadership, including party chief Akhilesh Yadav, to grand celebrations on the birth anniversary of Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar on April 14. Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati is likely to address the party supporters at the Ambedkar memorial in Lucknow to motivate them to gear up for the crucial Lok Sabha election, he added.
Samajwadi Party leader Rajendra Chaudhary said jointly commemorating the Dalit and backward caste icons will strengthen the SP-BSP alliance.
THE SP HAS INVITED BSP LEADERS TO THE BIRTH ANNIV CELEBRATIONS OF SOCIALIST LEADER THE LATE RAM MANOHAR LOHIA ON MARCH 23, AN SP LEADER SAID.
The Dalits and backward castes were at loggerheads with each other in the past when the SP and the BSP were in power separately.
The BSP’s support paved way for the victory of SP candidates in the Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha seats.
The BSP leader said when his party contested the 1993 UP assembly election in alliance with the SP and the 1996 assembly polls with the Congress, the partners secured the Dalit votes but the BSP candidates did not get the backward and upper caste votes.
Addressing party leaders before the Lok Sabha bypoll, Mayawati had expressed concern over the inability of alliance partners to transfer their votes to the BSP in the past.
Though the SP-BSP leaders are working to forge an alliance for 2019, the economically mobile backward castes — Yadavs, Kurmis, Mauryas and Nishads —are competing with Dalits for political, social and economic space on the ground in rural UP.
Now, jointly commemorating the icons of the two parties may come in handy to check friction and cement the alliance, party leaders said.
The differences between the two communities was apparent in 2007-12 when the BSP was in power as well as in 2003-07 and 2012-17 when the SP ruled the state.
Mayawati had made alleged atrocities on Dalits her main poll plank in the 2007 and 2012 assembly elections.
State BSP unit president Ramachal Rajbhar said both the parties will work to strengthen the alliance at the grass root level and try and stop the BJP from retaining power in 2019 Lok Sabha election, he said.
Rajesh Kumar Mishra, former head of the sociology department, Lucknow University, said Indian politics revolved around charismatic personalities. Political parties, be it the BJP, the BSP, the Congress or the SP, tried to woo various communities by paying tribute to their icons and installing their statues, he said.