BSP, the party founded by Kanshi Ram which has allegedly been anti-Hindu for decades, is now holding a ‘Brahmin Sammelan’ in Ayodhya. BSP supremo Mayawati also plans to hold Brahmin Sammelan in other holy cities of Hindus Kashi and Mathura. In the last few weeks, all the opposition parties including SP, BSP, and Congress are on a temple run and are taking steps to please Hindus.
BSP has deployed Satish Chandra Mishra, the protege of Mayawati, to please the Brahmins who constitute more than 10 percent of the state’s population. On the Brahmin Sammelan, Satish Mishra said, “We don’t believe in mixing religion with politics. We are from the Brahmin community and we have faith in all the Gods. What better place could it have been other than Ayodhya and to have Darshan and take blessings of Lord Ram before starting our programme.”
“If BJP thinks that Lord Ram belongs to them then it is their narrow mindset. Lord Ram belongs to everyone. It is sad when people do politics in the name of Lord Ram,” added Mishra.
On the question of alliance with other parties, he said, “BSP will fight on its own in the upcoming elections. We will do an alliance with the people of the state; we will do an alliance with the ‘Sarv Samaj’ (entire society). In the year 2007 also we had forged an alliance of brotherhood with the entire society. The entire Brahmin community had backed BSP in 2007 and we formed a full majority government then.”
BSP leaning on Hindus in this election show that it will not have any hesitancy in to join the BJP for a post-poll alliance. In fact, it is trying for the same.
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader Mayawati is at the wane of her political powers. Ever since Prime Minister Narendra Modi started sweeping state and general elections alike, regional parties such as BSP that relied overwhelmingly on caste-based equations for the votes have seen their political presence dip to alarming levels. However, Mayawati is a tough nut, and is known to survive against extreme odds and she has now latched onto the Hindutva cause to reinvent her party’s fortunes.
The Brahmin Sammelan will last till 29th of July. The BSP chief whilst announcing the 7-day programme last week had appeared hopeful that Brahmins in UP will vote for her party instead of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the state elections scheduled to be held in 2022.
While at first glance it appears that the soft reboot towards Hindutva by BSP is to edge out the BJP vote bank, however, the reality cannot be far from it. Congress and Samajwadi Party have tried this formula of visiting Temples, wearing Janau’s and yet they haven’t been able to breach the BJP defense in Uttar Pradesh. BSP understands this but it also recognizes that its survival is far greater than amassing few extra seats in the assembly.
BSP is eying a post-poll alliance with BJP so as to not perish into oblivion. The tell-tale signs of Mayawati’s flirtations with BJP have been there to see, signalling that the BSP supremo is playing the long game.
She supported the abrogation of Article 370 citing Dr. BR Ambedkar. She claimed that Ambedkar was against article 370 and supported the unity and integrity of India. Moreover, Mayawati didn’t even question the house arrest of Mehbooba Mufti, Farooq Abdullah, and Omar Abdullah.
Thus Mayawati’s strategy is simple, garner respectable seats in the assembly elections using the Hindutva card and later knock at the BJP’s door and take a side entry into the saffron party. While it will be interesting to examine how BJP reacts to such a proposition but at the moment, both are opponents, even if for the optics.