– Dr Rahul Kumar
Mayawati, President of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), is known as an unreliable, unpredictable politician in India. After the death of Kanshi Ram on 9 October 2006, her political mentor, Mayawati was supposed to run the BSP as Kanshi Ram wanted her to run but it did not happen.
Although Kanshi Ram joined hands with the BJP to make Mayawati the first time Dalit Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, a most populous state in India, in 1995 under the benevolence of the BJP, a party of Brahmins, Thakurs. Kanshi Ram, an unassertive orator, was the leader who always maintained clean and honorable image and followed the ideological path as laid down by his social, political mentor-Bharat Ratna(highest civilian award instituted in 1954)Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, the chief architect of the constitution of India.
Mayawati notoriously claims that she has been sacrificing everything for the upliftment of the Dalits but the truth is that Mayawati aims only for her own pecuniary advancement. In 2016, Swamy Prasad Maurya, an OBC leader in BSP left Mayawati accusing her turning the party into an “industrial house” and allegedly selling tickets. Later on, the same leader joined the saffron BJP party. It is not Swamy Prasad Maurya who first time leveled serious accusations against her but there are many other BSP leaders at the national and local level found that accusations leveled by Maurya are truthful. Vaishnav remarks that the BSP President Mayawati is quite open that a candidate should make a hefty contribution to the party in exchange for nomination.
As a freelance journalist, I happen to meet leaders and workers of the BSP in Punjab and Delhi. A BSP leader from Punjab on the condition of anonymity said: “My wife and I are BSP workers since the days of Kanshi Ram. Kanshi Ram personally visited their house in Phagwara (a district in Punjab) during his election campaign. Today the BSP is not the same as it used to be at the time of Kanshi Ram. Kanshi Ram was a man who loved his workers and party sympathizers. He used to listen to the opinions, views of all the party workers and accordingly planned the election strategy to win the hearts and minds of the Dalits. People from the Dalit communities thronged his public meetings. Today, when Mayawati comes to Punjab leaders and workers have to spend a lot of money from their own pockets and sometimes raise funds from the public to hire truck, cars, and bikes to carry the people to the venue of the public meeting. Mayawati is a dictator who does not listen to anyone in the party. She sometimes humiliates the party workers in the public”. You see, no assembly or parliament seat is won by the BSP candidate in Punjab for the last decades, he said. The onus lies on Mayawati who never comes and support the Punjab BSP leaders. They are left on their own. The alliance with the Badal family(Akalis) in Punjab proved to be a disastrous alliance since the Badal family and Jat Sikhs succeeded in convincing the Dalits that Mayawati took money from the Badam family and did not turn up a single time in Punjab to support the BSP candidates, he said. Tell me what is the utility of billions when Mayawati cannot save her reputation; what the utility of billions is when Mayawati has no son or daughter. It is beyond my imagination for what she is amassing wealth and for whom, he said.
Another BSP workers from Jalandhar(Punjab), said: “ Mayawati generally does not trust the Dalits from Punjab. She is under the impression that Dalits from Punjab can be controlled by her greedy, ravenous party UP In-charges. She sends office in-charge from the central office, UP to control the state leaders of Punjab. The state President are treated badly by the appointed office in-charge. Sometimes, the local BSP Punjab leaders and state Presidents, vice-presidents are humiliated by the UP men on the issue of funds collection. The litany is that the UP office In-charge claims that Behnji needs enormous funds to travel by helicopters to various states of India for election campaigns. The UP office in-charge will sometimes stays 15 days and collect the money and go back to deliver the money to the central office. God knows how much Behnji receive and how much is eaten away by the UP office In-charge. You see the majority of the Dalits are poor, daily laborers despite that they contribute funds with a full heart. Their only dream is to see Bhenji the Prime Minister of India”. Some funds are collected through The Backward and Minority Communities Employees Federation (BAMCEF) founded by Kanshi Ram in 1978.
A BSP worker from BSP Delhi unit stated: “The state President collected funds from the SCs/STs officers working in various government departments. The state President asked for the funds to give to Bhenji for going to various states of India for election campaigns by helicopter. The state President collected funds but most of the funds were utilized for their own expenses and some are claimed to be spent on the maintenance of the BSP Delhi office”.
Another BSP workers from Karol Bagh, a central Delhi district, the area the BSP Delhi office is situated stated: “A meeting was called by the BSP Delhi unit state President to discuss the celebration of Behnji birthday i.e 15th January 1956, This day is also celebrated as Jan Kalyankari Diwas(Public Welfare Day). The basic idea behind the gargantuan celebration is to raise funds for the party. In the meeting all the participants were told that Behnji has given a target of ten Million (One Crore) for Delhi unit, the State President said. The state President collected huge funds from the Dalit officers, teachers, engineers, and local workers.
A BSP party worker, a retired government SC employee, from Nagloi, a district in the west of UT Delhi stated, “Mayawati has given instructions to all state presidents or secretaries not to organize any political protest. The purpose of a political party is to raise the issues of the people to the ears of the government and find a permanent solution. If a party of Dalits will not raise an issue of Dalit atrocities, then who will? If you become an air-conditioned leader who will give you vote? If you do not fight for the rights of the people as reverend Baba Saheb Ambedkar fought for the rights and social dignity of the poor Dalits, who will become your party member? Baba Saheb Ambedkar fought assiduously for the Dalits rights and won ‘Reservation’. What Mayawati has done for the poor, underprivileged Dalits in India? In UP she could not fight in the Allahabad court to save the reservation for the Dalits while she was the Chief Minister. She has no political ethics to continue to represent us in the parliament. Today, the situation is that the Dalits are not trusted neither in the political circle nor in the social circle and it is because of Mayawati`s money-grubbing, aimless politics, he said.
Her opportunistic politics has rigorously tarnished the social and political reputation of the Dalit communities at large. After defeat in 2019 Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh(UP), the largest state having 80 parliamentary seats she got upset with the alliance Samajwadi Party(SP) and suddenly broke the alliance by accusing the SP of not translating the Yadav votes to the BSP. Such accusation seems absurd. How can Mayawati as the President of the BSP level such vile allegation against the party of Yadavs when she knew it very well that the majority of the Yadavs hate Dalits and its leaders inside their hearts and minds. The result of Uttar Pradesh in 2019 Lok Sabha elections shows that the BSP fielded candidates in 38 seats out which 10 are won by the BSP, it means the BSP is the gainer whereas the SP fielded candidates in 37 seats and won only 05 seats it means the SP as an alliance partner stands loser after the alliance with the BSP.
A local leader from the Yadav community after the official statement of temporary break-up made by Mayawati on national televisions claims that “Mayawati is under pressure from the BJP. Mayawati knows it very well that if she does not come forward to break the alliance with the SP, sooner or later the BJP would compelled her to break under the threat of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). He further said that Neta Ram, a close aide of Mayawati is already under CBI scanner. The BJP is going to use him as bait to torment Mayawati.”Mayawati knows it very well that her party has no cadre workers who would stage nationwide protest if Mayawati is arrested on the charges of corruption, he said.
Mayawati herself claim that the SP leaders gave her a lot of respect. After allegation against the SP leaders, this respect earned by her went with the wind. On that, Arpana Yadav, younger daughter –in law of Former Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav said: “Those who cannot digest respect cannot digest defeat ether”. GVL Narasimha Rao said, “ this was predicted by the Prime Minister a long time back so it happened. He further said, “the era of caste politics in India is over”.
Mayawati has to face a lot of criticism in the coming days for her immature act. She could have waited for few months before jumping to the conclusion before announcing break-up officially. Today Mayawati is 63 years old. Modi has already occupied the seat of Prime Minister for five years i.e. till 2024 Mayawati has no chance even at distance to become a Prime Minister of India.
Mayawati out of desperation sacked office bearers, coordinators in Uttrakhand, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Gujarat, and Punjab and more to follow after the ignominious defeat in 2019 Lok Sabha elections. What it indicates that the BSP Supremo Mayawati has lost political credibility. Those who were hoping to see her Prime Minister of India should sit at home and whine her premature political demise. Dalits Diaspora in UK,Canada and USA and other western countries should stop funding the state Presidents, vice-president, secretaries of the BSP in the name of Mayawati. They should invest their money and time on education of the boys and girls belonging to the marginalized communities. That would be an honest tribute to Baba Saheb Ambedkar- THE WORLD HERO.
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Dr. Rahul Kumar, Ph.D. from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, is an independent researcher and senior media columnist. Currently, he works as a senior correspondent for the Asian Independent UK.
(This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board and its owners.)
