‘Bua’ Mayawati snubs Chandrashekhar: A new battle for Dalit votes in Uttar Pradesh
The release of Dalit activist and Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad from jail, and the Yogi Adityanath government’s decision to withdraw the National Security Act (NSA) slapped on him and his two associates, is clearly aimed at wooing Dalits.
The politics behind the move is understandable. After all, it was not without reaping a harvest of Dalit votes that the BJP swept the Lok Sabha polls in 2014, bagging 71 of UP’s 80 seats.
This was largely due to the success of then-PM candidate Narendra Modi in projecting himself as a leader who could fulfill the aspirations of every deprived and underprivileged Indian.
Four-and-a-half years down the line, the same aspiring youth seem increasingly disenchanted with the PM and the BJP, giving them much to worry about.
The BJP’s resounding success in 2014 was built upon its ability to dig into the vote banks of parties like the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Samajwadi Party (SP).
The election results had in particular stunned Mayawati, who saw slipping out of her grasp what her mentor Kanshi Ram had taken years to build. Not in her worst nightmares would she have imagined that the party she had always accused of being the “oppressor” of Dalits would so severely dent the vote-bank she had considered her domain since the late eighties.
The weakening of Mayawati’s hold over what was once her exclusive vote-bank paved the way for the rise of other Dalit outfits.
Bhim Army was once such organisation that came up largely on account of the prevailing political vacuum. However, the outfit’s rise to prominence coincided with Mayawati beginning to reconsolidate her vote bank.
Initially, she took the Bhim Army quite lightly, and was perhaps convinced that sooner or later, Chandrashekhar Azad would come under her wings.
Also known by his self-assumed title ‘Ravan’ — which he has now dropped — Chandrashekhar first came into prominence for standing up to local Rajputs in Saharanpur in March 2016.The Rajputs had objected to the prefix “Great” before “Ch****s” on a welcome signboard outside a village. However, Mayawati chose to ignore the incident.
A year later, in May 2017, Chandrashekhar Azad again hit the headlines after the Bhim Army clashed with Rajputs over Maharana Pratap Jayanti celebrations. A Dalit activist was killed, and while the police described the death as “accidental”, the Bhim Army insisted it was murder. This time, Mayawati went to the extent of terming the Bhim Army a “BJP product”.
The reason was simple — Behenji could not digest the thought of any other organisation championing the cause of Dalits. Yet, in order to remain politically right, she also issued a statement hitting out at the Yogi Adityanath government, for the rising crimes in the state.
Once again now, she has reacted quite sharply to Chandrashekhar’s remarks since he was released from prison.
Chandrashekhar, after coming out of jail, had said he had no conflict with the BSP, and that he and “bua” (paternal aunt) Mayawati were of the same blood.
However, Mayawati was quick to issue a sharp retort. “I do not think there is any need for another organisation to look after the interests and well-being of Dalits”, she said. Without taking Chandrashekhar’s name, she added: “Some persons are unnecessarily trying to project themselves as some kind of messiah of Dalits. If someone is describing me as his “bua”, it means nothing. Such persons are perhaps only trying to conceal their age by referring to me as their aunt.”
Sources claim that Mayawati is averse to Chandrashekhar, whom she sees as a threat to her own vote bank, even though Chandrashekhar has repeatedly emphasised that he does not wish to contest the 2019 elections. He insists, “Our objective is to create social awareness among Dalits and to fight for their rights.”
Meanwhile, stories are already doing the rounds about the Bhim Army’s increasing proximity to the Congress. It may also be pertinent to mention that Rahul Gandhi has praised Chandrashekhar and his organisation. This could be one of the reasons for Mayawati’s obvious antipathy towards the new Dalit leader.
If insiders are to be believed, Mayawati would warm up to the Bhim Army only if Chandrashekhar merges it with the BSP, instead of running it as an independent entity.
Mayawati has been recalcitrant not just with the Bhim Army, but with the larger “grand alliance” too, and has repeatedly said she will not join the coalition unless offered a respectable number of seats.
The BSP leader knows well that without her, the Mahagathbandhan will not be in a position to take on the BJP and the charisma of PM Modi. However, this election will also definitively decide her political relevance.
Mayawati knows she is walking a tightrope, and is thus weighing each step carefully.