Cracks in BSP

to attend her meeting the same day. Party insiders said the crowd was among the smallest at any of Mayawati’sfunctionssinceshebecamebsppresident.

Besides, former minister and a Dalit leader of the party, Kamla Kant Gautam, has announced a public meeting in Lucknow on April 13, on the eve of B R Ambedkar’s birth anniversary, to launch a new outfit toservethebahujansamaj“abandoned”bymayawati. Several party workers have also announced their resignations in Lucknow, Kanpur and Allahabad.

“There is resentment among BSP workers. They are asking why OBC leaders were ignored and why Kanshi Ram saheb’s Bahujan ideology is being destroyed. It’s a problem with Mayawati that she cannot tolerate a leader who has a support base of his own. Kanshi Ram spent years to build this Bahujan Samaj, and made the BSP a national party in 13 years. She has undone all that. I hope to gather about 10,000 BSP workers to chart a separate course of politics for Bahujan Samaj,” said Gautam, who was in charge of Biharbeforerebellingagainstmayawatifollowingthe defeat in UP.

Many party leaders said Mayawati has changed the politics of Kanshi Ram and, ultimately, turned a party with a Bahujan base into one of Jatavs.

“Our party doesn’t have any leader from OBC castes, like Kushwaha, Kurmi, Nishad, Kashyap, Bind, Kumhar, and Scheduled Castes, like Balmiki, Kori, Dhobi, Khatik. Why is it so? A few persons are surrounding Behenji and manipulating her,” alleged Gangaram Ambedkar, a party leader who was Mayawati’s officer-on-special duty when she was chief minister but has now joined Gautam.

Pramod Kureel, former BSP MP, who has been leading a campaign against Mayawati, said most of thedalitsub-casteswereignoredbymayawati,which madethemsidewiththebjp.heevendubbedthebsp as a “Maya-mishra & Company”, referring to the importance given to BSP general secretary Satish Chandra Mishra, a Brahmin leader, in the party.

A senior OBC leader, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: “Anant Mishra (a Brahmin leader) has continued in the party but Babu Singh Kushwaha (an OBC) was thrown out. Kushwaha had devoted his life to the party.” Mishra, former health minister and relativeofsatishchandramishra,andkushwaha,former family welfare minister, are accused in cases related to the alleged multi-crore National Rural Health Missionscamthattookplaceduringmayawati’sterm as chief minister.

Several party leaders and Dalit thinkers have also challenged Mayawati’s decision to field 100 Muslim candidates, this time — only five of them won.

“There are 19 MLAS now and we don’t know how many of these would stay with the party in the next five years,” said a party coordinator, alleging that people unattached to BSP’S ideology were given preference in ticket distribution.

“When I went to the Kanshi Ram Smarak Sthal on March 15, there were only 80 people. This has never happened before. I hoped that she would review the defeat and do the surgery that is needed. But we all know what she said. How can the EVMS which gave BSP 206 seats (in 2007) be blamed?” said Gautam.

Then again, her close aides like Naseemuddin Siddiqui,ramachalrajbharandramveerupadhyaya, are facing inquiries by the state vigilance establishment for alleged corruption. After the results, Upadhyaya met Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, the first BSP MLA to do so.

Askedaboutthecurrentsituation,somepartyobserversturnedbacktothe2014loksabhapolls,when the BSP’S vote share was reduced to less than 20 per cent.withmanyjatavsinwesternupbelievedtohave sided with the BJP then, Mayawati turned her focus onthiscastegroupwhosesupportistheparty’sbackbone. Three of the four Rajya Sabha members elected by the BSP were Jatavs, apart from Satish Chandra Mishra. Most of the BSP’S current MLCS, coordinators and district presidents are Jatavs, too.

At the same time, the party’s state president Rajbhar, an OBC, has remained sidelined. Even when several other OBC leaders left the party, Mayawati did not reach out to them. When Swami Prasad Maurya left the BSP last June, she replaced him with Gaya Charan Dinkar, another Jatav, as Leader of Opposition in the Assembly.

About a week ago, BSP old-timer Daddu Prasad, a Dalitfrombundelkhand’schitrakootdistrictwhowas expelledbymayawatiforanti-partyactivitiesin2015, wasreinducted.mayawatialsoappointedseniorparty leader and Katehari MLA Lalji Verma, an OBC, as the party’s leader in the Assembly.

Butmostpartyworkersremaindemoralised.such isthesituationthatifmayawatidoesnotallywithany other party, she is likely to lose her seat in Rajya Sabha next year when her term gets over.

Senior party leader and former MP Baliram admitted that the party needed to “introspect” but insistedthatitremainedconnectedtokanshiram’sideology.“behenjihassaidinpartymeetingsthatmishraji is with her because she needs a lawyer to fight the cases against her. The old team of BSP workers is still with the party and we can bounce back soon if we work on our mistakes,” he said.