Eye on 2022 polls, BSP champions cause of migrants
LUCKNOW: The return of lakhs of migrant workers to Uttar Pradesh amid the Covid-19 lockdown has become a political issue with some parties looking to win their support ahead of the state assembly elections, due in February-March 2022.
Already 25 lakh migrant workers have returned to UP from various states, according to official data. The BJP government in the state has claimed that arrangements for food, shelter, medical facilities and employment have been made for the migrants. But, the opposition Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), the Congress and the Samajwadi Party (SP) have alleged that the migrants were forced to walk hundreds of kilometres due to the apathy of the BJP governments at the centre and in the state.
A majority of the migrants belong to the scheduled castes, the extremely backward castes and the other backward castes. The scheduled castes and the extremely backward castes are considered the support base of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). Party chief Mayawati has attacked the Congress and the BJP, alleging harassment of migrants in the BJP and Congress-ruled states.
The BSP chief launched an offensive against the Congress that is trying to regain its lost base in UP on the migrant issue.
A senior BSP leader, who did not wish to be named, said the Congress was trying to woo the Dalits and extremely backward castes. That is why the BSP is intent on countering the move.
The BSP lost the 2012 and 2017 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections.
The party failed to win a single seat in the 2014 Lok Sabha election. Yet, it managed to poll around 20% of the vote in all the three elections, indicating that its vote base of Dalits and extremely backward castes had not deserted it. The BSP contested the 2019 Lok Sabha election in alliance with the SP and won 10 seats.
The BSP chief’s attack on the Congress comes at a time when the Congress is trying to project itself as the main opposition party in UP, the senior BSP leader said.
Mayawati had played a pivotal role in the Janata Dal (S) and Congress sewing up a post- poll alliance and forming a government in Karantaka in May 2018. She shared the dais with Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi during the oath ceremony of HD Kumaraswamy as the Karnataka chief minister. Later, she rejected the Congress’s offer of a pre-poll pact in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. Nevertheless, she extended support to the Congress government in Madhya Pradesh that came to power with a slender majority.
In Rajasthan, the Congress lured six BSP MLAs to the ruling party. Upset over the Congress’s move, the BSP started attacking the party, he said.
Mayawati took the lead over other political parties in directing party MPs and MLAs to donate to the Covid care fund from their local area development fund, he said.
BSP state unit president Munkad Ali said the party had mobilised its cadres to assist the migrant workers, as well as weaker sections of the people, during the lockdown.
Bahujan Samaj Party leaders and workers were distributing food grains, other edible items and medicines to the poor, he said.
The Dalits constitute around 24% of the state population. As a majority of the migrants belong to the Dalit and backward communities, the BSP chief had started mobilising the party cadre on the migrant workers’ issue, he said.