Bhim Army factor, poll reverses make BSP rethink strategy
LUCKNOW: The rising popularity of Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar and debacles in assembly elections held in several states have forced Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati to amend her political strategy.
In line with the new strategy, the party organisation will be overhauled. Besides, B SP leaders and workers will take to the streets and hold demonstrations on public issues.
Mayawati will also travel across the state to review the organisation and gear up the party workers for the 2022 assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh.
She will also visit other states to review the organisation and address workers’ conferences there, said a BSP leader familiar with the development.
Young and committed leaders will be given important posts in the district, assembly, sector and booth committees that will be reconstituted. The BSP chief’s nephew Aakash Kumar, who has been made national coordinator, will be projected as the party’s young face. Aakash will lead the party’s young brigade in taking on political rivals, he said.
Chairing a special meeting of the party’s all-India unit in New Delhi on Sunday, Mayawati announced the BSP will contest the Bihar assembly election, likely to be held in November, on its own strength.She also directed the party’s Bihar unit to start preparing for the election.
She also told presidents of all the state units to reconstitute their party organisation by removing inactive office bearers.
Young, energetic and loyal leaders will be appointed party office bearers from the state to the booth level, Mayawati said, adding that after the Bihar assembly election, she will visit all the states where the BSP has its units and contested assembly elections.
After the Bihar polls, the BSP will start preparing for the UP assembly election-2022.
The BSP is also likely to contest the panchayat elections to be held at the year-end in UP.
Expressing concern over the
Bhim Army’s activities, the BSP chief directed the party leaders to tell Dalits about the Bhim Army’s role in weakening the Dalit movement at the instance of the Congress and the BJP.
The support to Bhim Army’s nationwide Bharat Bandh has become a cause of concern for the BSP. Pragtisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) , Rashtriya Janata Dal, Hindustan Awam Morcha led by former Bihar chief Jiten Ram Manjhi, the Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party, as well as various Dalit and backward organizations, had extended support to the Bharat Bandh organised on Sunday. Chandrashekhar has already announced he will launch a political party and called upon the Dalits to unite under his leadership to fight for their rights.
Motivating the party leaders, Mayawati directed them to play down the protest organised by Bhim Army and not to be jittery.
“The Bhim Army does not enjoy support among Dalits at the grass roots whereas the BSP has a strong organisational network across the state,” she told them.
Mayawati made it clear that the BSP would continue its strong opposition to CAA, NRC and NPR. The BSP will also launch movement against the ‘dilution of constitutional provisions’ that were meant to provide reservation for the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes and the Other Backward Classes (OBCs), she said.