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Is it back to basics for BSP?
TNN, Mar 22, 2010, 03.44am IST
NEW DELHI: BSP supremo Mayawati is just past the halfway mark of her
stupendous mandate for chief ministership and the question begging
answer from a mid-term appraisal is: Is BSP back to `bahujan' after a
dalliance with `sarvjan'?
Lucknow's mega rally last week has sent out a message that BSP is back
to its moorings. The future reliance will be more on SCs and most
backward castes. A clear message has been sent to the sceptical dalit
constituency which felt itwas marginalised after the Brahmin outreach
of 2007 resulted in a massive success at the hustings.
The party is likely to shed the emphasis on Brahmins and rope in
non-Brahmin upper castes. The nomination of Naresh Aggarwal to Rajya
Sabha after Akhilesh Das is seen in that light. Muslims are obviously
a target group high on its agenda.
Besides the rally and its symbolism showing a BSP bid to consolidate
the home constituency, the reshuffle effected in top bureaucracy is
seen as laden with meaning.
The marginalisation of party's Brahmin face S C Mishra has come with
the movement of an officer closely identified with BSP as the second
seniormost bureaucrat in UP. BSP-watchers dub it as a definitive sign
of things to come.
For a party which defines itself as much by symbolism as by concrete
actions, the sacking of around 150 lawyers in Allahabad High Court
last week has also drawn political comments.
Though the Lucknow rally was reduced in the public discourse to the
currency garland that Mayawati was gifted, two events may accentuate
BSP's dalit edge -- a possible ministerial reshuffle and the
Congress's UP campaign from April 14.
Rahul Gandhi is to flag off a 47-day long Congress `yatra' from
Ambedkar Nagar on Ambedkar Jayanti. The symbolism of the place and day
is significant, and may force the CM to blunt the Congress offensive
by casting herself in the dalit mould. Rahul's visits to SC households
across UP had this effect on the BSP supremo.
However, the resurfacing of `back to basics' approach is not sudden.
The Lok Sabha results, which were way below the party's expectations,
led to a revision. A leader recalled the meeting called in the
aftermath of results where S C Mishra faced serious criticism. Since
then, he is rarely by the CM's side and does not make speeches at
rallies as he used to.
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