OPPOSITION

BSP’S expulsion of Naseemuddin Siddiqui signals a crisis for the Dalit party — and a syndrome in the non-bjp political space

THE EXPULSION OF Naseemuddin Siddiqui from the BSP on Wednesday is mired in charges and counter-charges from both sides. At least two stories, if not more, will be told about the unceremonious exit of a man who, over nearly three decades in the BSP, emerged a recognisable face in a party that brooks none apart from its supremo. One narrative, however, is already writ large — of a party coming apart in defeat. Siddiqui was at the centre of the BSP’S strategy for the 2017 assembly election, in which Mayawati sought to woo Muslim votes, giving out nearly a hundred seats to Muslim candidates, to join them to the party’s core base of Dalits. His ejection now follows close on the heels of that strategy’s spectacular failure — in this election, the BSP sank to 19 seats, down from 80 in 2012. In fact, though it still posted a vote share of 22 per cent, BSP fortunes have been sinking in successive elections from its peak performance in 2007, when it formed the first single party majority government in UP since 1985, crossing the 25 per cent threshold in terms of vote share and expanding its footprint across the state.

But Siddiqui’s ouster from the BSP is a moment notable for more than just the inability of the BSP to hold together in adversity. This is both because the BSP is a unique party and because its current disarray mirrors a larger political crisis. The specialness of the BSP comes from its being and becoming the vehicle for the political assertion of India’s most disprivileged, the Dalits. Mayawati’s four tenures as chief minister have not only earned her a reputation as a firm administrator on the law and order front, they have also become a powerful symbol of inclusiveness in a democracy that, despite its several imperfections and unkept promises, makes it possible for a Dalit force to push its way through to becoming a viable alternative in India’s politically most important state. When such a party seems unable to hold together — as the Siddiqui episode signals — its undoing, like its rise, has a larger resonance. In its expansion earlier, from Dalit to Bahujan to Sarvajan, and in its apparent shrinking now, more is at stake in the BSP’S fortunes than just the BSP.

The BSP’S decline also holds up a mirror to the building crisis in the ranks of non-bjp parties. Even as the Narendra Modi-led BJP conquers new political territories, its opposition seems to flounder. One of the main reasons for this appears to be the inability of the one-man, one-woman, or one-family party to weather the political setback. If the AAP seems riven by inner conflict after its underwhelming performance in Punjab and rout in Delhi’s local polls, the AIADMK is still convulsed by the death of J. Jayalalithaa and the SP faces a split in UP after defeat.