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Thu, Apr 26 A new rainbow for UP By IE Thursday April 26, 03:20 AM One of the significant features of the ongoing elections in Uttar Pradesh is the attempt by the Bahujan Samaj Party-an avowedly Dalit-based party - to gain the support of the upper castes, particularly the Brahmins, it earlier derided as 'manuvadi'. The key to this puzzle lies in examining the trajectory pursued by the BSP in UP politics. Since its formation it has constantly sought to adopt new strategies of electoral mobilisation in keeping with shifts in the larger socio-political scene in UP while remaining within the framework of 'dalit' identity and the ideology of Ambedkarism. These strategies, devised by master strategist Kanshi Ram and now executed by his able lieutenant Mayawati, explain the BSP's emergence as a strong party in UP within a very short period of time. The BSP emerged in 1984 against the backdrop of Congress decline and heightened polarisation among social groups due to the Hindutva movement, as a strong social movement supporting a popular upsurge from below. Critical of mainstream parties as brahminical, the leadership used exclusionary tactics and portrayed the BSP as a narrow dalit-bahujan party opposed to the upper castes and/or classes. In the early 1990s it joined hands with the Samajwadi Party, another lower-caste party, to contain the Bharatiya Janata Party and to establish a 'bahujan samaj' for the dalit-bahujans in the state. The failure of this project led to its metamorphosis in the mid-1990s from a radical social movement into an opportunistic political party, which together with the BJP, formed a coalition government three times in UP and gave tickets to non-dalits in a bid to capture state power. Undoubtedly, the symbolic value of a dalit party capturing power enabled the BSP to consolidate the dalit vote behind it. In the early 2000s, two developments again necessitated a change: the exhaustion of identity politics and the rapid decline of the BJP together with the failure of the Congress to rebuild itself in UP, evident in the results of the 2002 state assembly elections. This led to bipolarisation, leaving the BSP and the SP as the two strongest contenders vying for the votes of the upper castes, which have been moving away from the BJP and the Congress. These developments have led the BSP to redefine its identity as a party and to reassess its strategies of electoral mobilisation vis-Ã -vis other parties/social groups. While earlier it gave a large number of tickets to non-dalits, now it is trying to gain the support of the twice-born castes by mobilising them directly. In this changed scenario, often dismissed as a maverick, Mayawati does have a game plan, albeit an ambitious and difficult one to achieve. Her aim seems to be to build a 'rainbow' party similar to the erstwhile combine of the upper castes-dalits-Muslims that had enabled the Congress party to rule UP for a long period of time. This would enable the party to overcome its inability to capture power alone and yet build a social combine in which the dalits are in a commanding position, that is, a broad-based party but with a leading dalit core. Will the BSP be able to bring about this fundamental change in its support base? Undoubtedly the task at hand is not easy. The party leadership will face internal divisions about its future direction, as the party has traditionally been divided between a section keen on forming coalitions and/or alliances with social groups and gaining power to introduce social change from above, and those who feel that it is necessary to retain the party's hard-won identity and position as an exclusive dalit-based organisation. Second, it remains to be seen whether Mayawati will be successful in gaining substantial electoral support of the upper castes. At present the BSP has a very small proportion of the total upper-caste vote in the state, most of which still remains with the BJP and the Congress. Despite media reports of high attendance at brahmin sammelans, it is not clear how the brahmins view the BSP and whether in a conservative state such as UP they will shift their support and vote for a lower-caste party. Third, it remains to be seen whether the BJP is a party in decline in UP or whether it is merely undergoing a period of weakness because of internal divisions arising out of loss of power in the state and at the Centre. There are reports of the recovery of the BJP and to a much lesser extent the Congress, which could lead to a return of the brahmins to their traditional strongholds. In terms of education, income, and employment, brahmins have traditionally held an elite position they will not easily surrender. Finally, will dalits at the grassroots accept the attempt by the leadership to bring upper castes into the party on a large-scale? If the BSP is successful in emerging as a broad-based party with a dalit core, this development could introduce major changes in state politics, with repercussions for national politics. Historically, UP has been a state governed by social alliances led by the upper castes and/or classes. The Congress led this alliance as the ruling party up to the late 1980s followed by the BJP, which attempted to create a single vote-bank across the state. With the decline of identity politics UP seems to be returning to the pattern of broad social alliances as in the past. The fundamental difference is that in the new broad and aggregative social alliance sought by the BSP, dalits will occupy a predominant position in the governance structures. Such a shift, if it were to take place, holds the possibility of opening a new chapter in UP politics, and might even lead to the gradual secularisation of politics in a state that has been torn apart by identity politics. The writer is professor at the Centre for Political Studies, JNU. She is currently senior fellow at Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi
