BSP leader has played a potent political masterstroke by announcing her successor will be Dalit, without naming the person.
LUCKNOW: Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati has played a potent political masterstroke against her arch rival Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav. She has announced that her political successor would be a Dalit. The announcement has sparked off a wave of speculation in the rank and file of the BSP about who among them could be the next leader.
The timing could not have been more apt as elections in the state are due early next year. Also, she chose the occasion where she was unanimously anointed party chief for a second consecutive three-year term in the presence of the BSP’s national and state-level leaders. She had taken over the reins of the party from BSP supremo Kanshi Ram in September 2003. Mayawati’s manoeuvre is clearly aimed at achieving more than just setting out parameters for the future leadership of the party. By declaring that the Dalit successor would not be from her family, she has sent out a message against hereditary rule directly indicting Mulayam who is known to be politically over-indulgent with his son Akhilesh Yadav, MP from Kannauj. His brother Shivpal is also a powerful Cabinet minister.
Another point she has scored is the consolidation of her party’s Dalit vote bank, who constitute about 22 per cent of the state’s electorate. She has also specified that the successor would be a Chamar, the caste to which she herself belongs and which is numerically the strongest among the Scheduled Castes in UP. The BSP has formed a strong Dalit-Brahmin coalition for the coming state Assembly elections.
But, the BSP top brass fears the Brahmins’ steady influx may cause insecurity and aversion among the Dalits. In fact, Mayawati may have been under political compulsion to make such an announcement mainly because the upper castes, particularly the Brahmins, are sure to get a much larger chunk of the party’s election tickets than ever before. In past elections, Dalits have got one-fourth of the BSP’s tickets, about 100 of the 404 seats. This time, upper caste candidates would mostly be cutting into the Dalit quota.
The announcement of a Dalit successor would take care of that fear. Mayawati has clarified she may forge alliances with upper castes and with parties dominated by them, but the leadership would remain in Dalit hands.
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